A Different Heart
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: What would have happened if Xion, instead of Roxas, had survived the battle? What if instead of Sora awakening, Xion had become whole? With the Organization on her trail and with Riku out for blood, the young Nobody struggles to find what matters most in the world to her. Luckily, along the way, she becomes a Keyblade Master with the help of her new friends.
1. Chapter 1: For Those Left Behind

**So while I was away on hiatus... AKA an emotional rollercoaster of laziness and depression... I started writing this little story. I had (have?) a lot of stuff planned for it, possible even making this one over a hundred chapters long.**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, and as such, Disney, do not belong to me.**

**Dedicated to Nikko and Katy, AKA Henvdemon of the Heart and OrganizationXIIIisbetterthan theAkatski (did I spell that right?). Rock on you two! Thanks for being so good to me while I was gone.**

**For my older reviewers (hi guys!), the next chapter for the Days At series will be coming soon!**

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Part One: For Those Left Behind

**Chapter One: A Shameless Victory/For Those Left Behind**

She sits alone on the ledge, looking down at the ground from several hundred feet above. Her dark hood obscures her vision, sure, but right now Xion didn't want to look. The tears run into the black fabric, their sticky warmth being absorbed by the Organization cloak.

"Where did you go...? Since when... did I need you...?" She asks softly to herself, hugging her stomach weakly. She feels dizzy, as if she was about to tumble over and skid off of the Tower. She imagines a brief image of her slipping off of it, screaming, clawing at the stones as she fell. She smiles bitterly. Maybe she wouldn't scream. Maybe she would welcome the fall.

She brushes the hood off of her head, revealing the shock of brown hair that she had acquired since that afternoon. Her black hair was no more, it had turned into a rich brown instead. _**His**_ brown. The girl Nobody looks up at the setting sun, at the pink and orange clouds in the distance. A sharp pang resonates through her chest, forcing her to look away.

"It's going to eat me alive... isn't it? I wish... that it would..." She winces again, panting softly as the pain in her chest becomes sharper, more like someone was stabbing her chest with a dagger. For a moment, she loses her breath, forcing her to lean against the Tower wall. She squeezes her dark blue eyes shut as she automatically clutches at her heart.

She laughs softly, grinning in an almost demented way. Her Heart. She had one now. She pulls the hood back over her eyes as she giggles. She had a Heart. _**She had a Heart.**_ "Thank you... Sora." Xion says to herself, her grin fading into a weak grimace. Her heart pounds again, that sharp pain stabbing her once more. She groans and doubles over, breathing weakly as her new Heart beats erratically in her chest.

As soon as her breathing had returned to normal, she sits up again, leaning her head against the cold granite wall. She opens her eyes but she continues to clutch at her chest. "Where did you go? I needed you, Sora..." She says softly to herself in a singsong voice, rocking her heels against the tower idly. Briefly, the image of two smiling boys appears in her mind, their voices calling out to her.

_**'Xion...!'**_

She automatically turns to look, even though she knows that she's alone. Only the wind answers her call, blowing fiercely against the Twilight Town Clock-tower. She's all alone. Number fourteen smiles bitterly, looking back at the setting sun. Maybe it was better this way.

"Is being alone better?" A voice asks curiously, sounding almost amused. Xion jumps, turning to look. Riku smiles darkly at her from beneath his own hood, his gloved hand coming up in a slow wave. "So... you beat him." Riku says in an excitedly grateful tone as he shuffles a few steps forward, as if he wanted to sit down beside her. Xion recoils, shifting away from the older boy.

Riku tilts his head in surprise, obviously startled. "Don't come any closer." She growls softly, her hand curling into a fist. Xion begins to stand up, but then sits back down. She folds her legs neatly at the ankle, looking up at the boy. Just like her, he wears the Organization cloak, though he always had a black blindfold against his eyes too. She wasn't sure how he could see out of it either.

Riku shrugs and looks at her for a moment before crouching down besides her. Obviously understanding she meant her unspoken threat, he doesn't come any closer, remaining a few feet away from her. "_Did_ you beat him?" The older boy asks curiously, looking strangely confused. Xion looks at him, a strange darkness appearing in her eyes. She touches her wrist and pulls up the long jacket sleeve.

Riku flinches.

"Of course I did. He couldn't get past my armor. Neither can I." She says coldly, wiggling her arm in emphasis. The white metal gleams in the bright light of the setting sun, tinting it a pastel orange. Riku smiles. "Good. I knew you could do it. … Now, come on. We have work to do." He says eagerly, holding his hand out to her. She doesn't move, only shifts her head away from to look at the sky.

"Hey... do you know why the sun sets red? Cause red is the one that travels the farthest... " She says quietly to herself, feeling that pang in her chest again. She winces, clutching at her Heart one more time before bowing her head. Riku stares at her before taking her wrist, pulling her to her feet. "This is no time for games, Xion. We have to go wake up-" Riku starts to say before he suddenly lets go, jumping back several feet.

The girl smiles, raising the Keyblade up to his cloaked eyes. "I'm not going back, Riku. I think you know that." Riku's eyes widen beneath the blindfold, his breath stopping in his throat. No... she _couldn't_... "I won't be going back with you. Not now, not ever." Xion says calmly, wrapping her other hand around the hilt of her weapon, gripping it tightly in an all-too familiar stance. She takes a step forward, jabbing the blunt end at him. He takes another step back, his body beginning to tremble slightly. She couldn't...

"Why? You said-! You _have_ to come-!" Riku starts to protest, glaring at the younger girl angrily. She smiles again, a sad smile. Her body suddenly droop, as if a sudden heavy weight had been dropped onto her shoulders. She shakes her head no, calmly pressing the blade to his throat.

She chuckles softly, a very low noise that was filled with nothing but sadness. Nothing but her misery. "No, I don't. I don't have to do anything. … Tell Naminé I'm sorry. Your plans didn't work..." She tilts her head backwards, forcing her hood to come off. Riku gasps softly, a soft mewling noise coming out of his throat. She smiles again, shrugging her shoulders weakly. "I didn't become Sora... I just... became me, Riku." Xion explains quietly, shaking her head all the while. It was obvious from her pained expression that she thought she didn't deserve the phenomenon, that she didn't deserve the Heart that she had obtained.

Riku's lips move soundlessly, his voice dying in his throat. He tries to reach for her, but the metal weapon stopped him from moving any closer without it pressing further into his neck. "The things I can do or know are so few... but I know this. I can't help you... or Sora. Roxas has taught me that. Good bye, Riku." Xion says quietly, lowering the Keyblade slightly. She turns to leave, tossing the Kingdom Key into her other hand quickly.

This was all the chance Riku needed.

Xion twirls around, instinctively throwing her Keyblade back up to her face. Riku grunts as he slams his own Keyblade into hers, the sheer force sending the girl skidding back a few steps. She grits her teeth as Riku pours more force into the next blow, making the girl's body jump with the bone-shaking vibration. "You. Will. Come. Back! _Whether you want to or not!_" Riku roars, emphasizing each of his words by slamming his sword into hers violently, forcing the girl into the wall with each blow.

He would not let Sora die. Not now, not ever. No matter who stood in his way, he _would_ bring his friend back.

Xion's knees buckle under the relentless pressure, forcing her to kneel before the older boy. She pants softly, the ferocity of the boy's attacks continuing to resonate through her arms. She feels like she was about to faint, the pain was getting that bad. Her fingers sting underneath her gloves and she winces as Riku smiles at her. The older boy chuckles softly but raises his Keyblade over his head, about to deliver the final strike to her. She looks up at him, her dark eyes filling with fear. He was going to kill her, or knock her unconscious. Either way, she would die.

She didn't want to die.

Xion looks down beside her and a bitter smile slowly crosses her face. She looks back up. "Tell Axel... I'm sorry." She says softly, bowing her head in a formal, respectful gesture at Riku. He stares at her, obviously startled. He begins to lower the blade.

This was all the chance she needed.

"If I'm ever reborn... let's play again... Riku..." She says quietly, wrapping her fingers tightly around her Keyblade as she raised her head to look at him. He stares at her for a moment, seeing the ghost of another person within those solemn eyes. Riku, not knowing what he was doing, begins to reach for her, perhaps to haul her to her feet, perhaps just to pick her up and hold her close from relief.

She smiles at him, closing her eyes again.

Without another word, she throws her Keyblade, slamming it with all of her might directly into Riku's shins. Riku lets out a scream before tumbling backwards, landing with a hard thud onto the ledge. Xion scrambles to the edge, throwing herself off of it without hesitation.

As she begins to fall, she hears Riku's voice one last time. "Xion!" She feels his hands brush against her cloak, trying to get a grip on it before she fell. She smiles as she tumbles away from him, her hand automatically reaching up towards him. She closes her eyes, feeling the wind drag beneath her, pulling her down away from the boy who had tried to save his friend.

_'I wonder... did I do well...?'_ She asks herself as she falls, reaching upward toward the sky as her body realigns itself in the air, making the girl fall headfirst. She could almost hear her friend's voice in her head, whispering softly to her. _**'You did just fine. Leave it to me.' **_The voice tells her as she falls into the darkness. Her eyes close and her smile grows that much warmer. She feels the warmth of someone against her skin, like the sun had been pressed into her body... or someone had just hugged her close, letting her feel the brief moment of comfort before she died.

She tumbles into the darkness, allowing it to swallow her whole.


	2. Chapter 2: White Rooms

**Authoress Note: I hate physics. Hate it with a passion because my teacher was a jerk. But... yeah, somehow I came up with some physics for Kingdom Hearts. My mind boggles even me. I'll try not to do so many little comments so this is the last one. Read and review!**

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**Chapter Two: White Rooms**

At first, the throbbing in her head wouldn't let her see anything, forcing her to keep herself unconscious or face tremendous pain. Or maybe it was because of how much her Heart hurt that she couldn't stay awake. Either way, Xion continues to sleep, only briefly waking to understand that she was in a different place now.

Consciousness, once taken, is difficult to snatch back, and so the once-Nobody girl slept for days, unknowingly saving herself from the men who would have simply dragged her back into the Organization.

The first coherent thought that Xion has before awakening is simple: 'I am such an idiot.' How many times had Axel warned her about the Corridors? How many times had he said never to open one up in mid-air, and how many times had he yelled at her never to make a horizontal one? _**"Physics is one hell of a bitch, Xion, and only you or maybe Demyx could be stupid enough to try to make a Corridor ignore her."**_ His taunting but worried voice echoes in her head, making her close her eyes again.

She remembers about the many lessons that Vexen (and later on, Axel) had forced down her throat, mostly because she hadn't had the sense that the other Nobodies had when she was born. She hadn't known any better. She had simply instinctively known why not to do some things, but had no idea why not to do others. Either way, the older Nobodies hadn't gotten the lessons and though Axel had been perfectly happy to show her what _not_ to do with a Corridor, he had been dumbfounded by her lack of common sense.

With a soft groan, she begins to recite. "Gravity is 9.81 meters per second or 32.2 feet per second... with each second in the air, you pick up more speed..." Xion tries to sit up, gasping loudly as a sharp pain knifes through her head, forcing her to lie back down. "And it only takes about five grams of force to get a concussion..."

As she lies there helplessly, Xion knows exactly what she had forgotten. Axel had once warned her about jumping into a Corridor from a high place. She mutters darkly to herself, mimicking Axel's sharp voice. "All Corridors are horizontal, not vertical. No matter what kind of Corridor you open up or where you open it, it'll always be horizontal. A vertical Corridor opening will drop you into a horizontal Corridor... no matter what, stupid." She sighs softly, clutching her head in her gloved hands. She had been so stupid.

Just how long had she fallen before she dropped into the Corridor? Five seconds? Ten? She could have easily been going over a hundred miles per second... it's no wonder her head hurt. She wiggles her fingers and toes within their respective gloves and boots, quickly being rewarded with a sharp slap of pain in her temples. Every single one of her appendages, from her fingers to her toes, begin to ache badly, like she had thrown boiling water on them simultaneously. Yup, it's no wonder she was hurting. She groans softly, feeling her head pound with the beginnings of a migraine.

Her own voice is unfamiliar to her at first, and she couldn't hear what she was saying. "I shouldn't be alive..." Xion hisses softly to herself, knowing that from how fast (not to mention how hard) she had smacked into the Corridor, she probably shouldn't even be breathing, let alone moving. Her shoulders droop as she giggles to herself, a dull ache emerging from her spasming diaphragm.

She should be dead. Xion should have been dead.

"Cu..." At first, the words barely came out of her mouth, and with how much pain she's in, Xion couldn't summon up the trickle of power that she had left. "Cu...r...aga..." She breathes out softly, closing her eyes as a bright green light floats above her head. As the healing magic began to knit her broken ribs together, she can feel the bones shifting back to their normal places. The movement of the bone fragments, almost like earthworms burrowing in soil within her chest, is almost too much to bear.

But she couldn't go back to sleep. She couldn't.

Xion bites her lip hard, feeling the bones wiggling inside of her body and the sharp tingle of bruises speeding through their healing processes on her skin. It hurt, it hurt worse than any pain she had ever been in. A loud _crack_ echoes throughout the room as one of her bones rebreaks under the careful guidance of the Cure spell, gluing itself back together properly.

She screams, howling in pain as her phalanges stab themselves back into place and then mend back into the ligaments in her fingers. Black dots swim across her vision until the green light banishes them back into nothingness. Xion lies there, trapped against the cold tiles by her own spell, until it finishes. As a pair of golden bells ring cheerily above her, the ex-number XIV opens her dark blue eyes and lets out a few choice words, violently (but politely) cursing Xemnas and every one of the other Nobodies, Riku, and most importantly, her own stupid self.

When she had finished, she sucks in another breath and repeats her spell. "Curaga." She spits out, coughing a small amount of phlegm onto the floor beside her. Her lips are flecked with drops of blood, her very bones burning with the agony of her violent fall, but she continues to cast her healing spell.

She lies perfectly still as her bones begin to move around again inside of her; one spell hadn't been enough to move everything, and some had even stopped moving once the first Curaga had run out of power. From very hard-earned experience, she knows that she could easily end up with a skull fragment in her eye or with a hunk of bone in one of her lungs. So she keeps muttering the same spell over and over, praying each time that one of the shifting bits of bone wouldn't lodge themselves into somewhere vital... or fatal.

Her entire body spasms as one of her spinal discs snaps back into place, forcing her to bite back a loud scream. The bells ring one more time, spewing a small wisp of green dust before poofing back to wherever they came from, no doubt off to go do some more good for the injured that summoned it.

She lies there on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Feeling numb from the intense pain of feeling her body forcibly heal years' worth of damage within a few minutes, Xion silently curses one last time. "Dang you, Riku." She says softly, rubbing at her tear-stained cheeks miserably before taking in a deep breath. She forces herself to roll onto her stomach, pushing her body up until she sat heavily on her legs, kneeling in the middle of the room.

She looks around, breathing heavily from the effort of movement. Slowly, her eyes began to process what she was seeing. The white room, covered in these strange ornate (and white) ornaments and vases, is familiar, as if she had seen it before. _'Castle Oblivion...' _A low voice hisses in the back of her head, making her ears ring in emphasis.

She nods, feeling her neck creak with the movement. Oblivion... Vaguely, she remembers passing out the moment that she had gotten a few feet inside of those huge doors at the entrance, of being so overwhelmed by the force of Sora's memories inside of her that she had collapsed. She wiggles her fingers inside of her gloves, looking at her hands blankly. She isn't in any similar pain like that now. Xion rolls her shoulders, feeling her bones pop in relief as she moves everything she could wiggle in order to make sure that it was in fact, healed. As she takes a quick inventory, the room seems to shrink slightly around her, as if it was a blanket slowly being folded into a neat square.

She knows it was probably the concussion, but it never hurt to look around anyway.

She looks back down at her hands, scowling slightly. "What's that supposed to do?" Xion mutters darkly to herself, shaking her head before propping herself up to look at the room. It looks like any other room in the Castle: cold, white and slightly spooky. She sighs before sitting down, stretching her legs out lazily before her. Even when she had lived here, back before Sora had come into this place-

She blinks in confusion, a startled look appearing on her face. What? She scans through her memories, frantically searching that flicker of a scene she knew that she had seen before... long ago...

_'You are No. I.' _

A sudden pain vibrates through Xion's head, forcing her to clutch at her temples in agony. No... She couldn't remember that... For the first time in her life, she knows that she could remember what had happened before she had been inaugurated into the Organization.

"Sora... I'm sorry..." She whispers softly as the hot tears begin to trickle down her cheeks. She sobs silently, burying her face in her hands, letting herself mourn the loss of her friends, the loss of Riku and of Naminé, of losing her friend and of losing Axel – No! She grabs at her hair violently, tearing out several locks by the sheer force of her panic. No... she couldn't remember his name. The boy's name... she couldn't remember!

_'Roxas.'_

She looks up, startled by the softness of the whisper. It is such a gentle voice, almost impossibly kind and sweet. "Roxas...?" She repeats, slowly loosening the hair from her now red and white-striped fingers.

_'Roxas... Remember... Roxas...' _

The voice repeats softly, gently soothing Xion's panic away from her, like she had suddenly been enveloped in a blanket of serenity. She smiles, pulling her jacket closer to her body, placing her hand onto her chest. "Roxas. His name's Roxas. The Key of Destiny." Xion repeats after it, quietly re-memorizing everything that she had ever held dear about her friend.

_Roxas..._

Xion carefully squeezes herself behind one of the doors, her hand clenched tightly around her Keyblade. She groans softly, pulling a handful of munny from somewhere deep inside of her pocket. She knows she only had one shot at this, if that.

If she had known getting an Elixir from the machine was so difficult, she wouldn't have bothered.

With a silent oath, Xion throws herself into the room, barreling past the multitude of Heartless that were apparently guarding the thrice-damned machine. The Shadows jump away from her, their yellow eyes widening in what almost looked like shock. The Red Nocturnes briefly tumble down from the air, turning their heads beneath the little brim of their hat-like appendages.

She jumps past them, shoving a few hundred munny into the small slot, and she slams her hand onto the Elixir button before she turns. The Heartless stare at her for a moment, and she glares back at them defiantly. The ex-Nobody brandishes her Keyblade threateningly, forcing the small group of monsters to back away a few steps or a few feet in the air.

"Fire!" Xion says curtly, aiming the point of the weapon at one of the little Shadows. Immediately, its body is engulfed in flames. At the death of their comrade, the other Shadows hurtle forward, grabbing angrily at Xion's boots. She kicks them off, throwing a few more fireballs at the increasingly violent Heartless. She yelps when one of the Nocturnes, having finished its silent incantation in the air above the machine, flicks its own flames at her, singing the shoulder of her coat. She glares up at it and quickly finishes it off with a soft"Thunder!" and a smack of her Keyblade.

The small bottle clunks into place in the drinks slot, making her turn around. She smiles and slips the bottle out, shoving it into her pocket. "Geez... all this for just one..." Xion says regretfully, looking at the machine. She knows that she had to somehow get a supply of food, drinks, and healing items. She sighs again before shoving another couple munny into the slot, pressing the button for a Mega-Ether.

A low _thunk_ greets her.

Xion blinks before bending down to look into the drinks slot, checking for a bottle. The machine lets out a quiet whir before becoming completely silent. The slot is empty, except for maybe the tiny beginning of a family of dust bunnies. A relaxed smile slowly spreads across her face as she looks into the vacant slot, and she then squeezes the lever to get her munny back. The machine whirs again, as if telling her that she had already lost the cash to its formidable hunk of machinery.

A vein in Xion's temple throbs as she lifts her Keyblade, her dreamy smile being replaced with sheer rage.

She slams the Keyblade into the thick glass displaying the kinds of drinks available to buy (_"Potions, now in __**MEGA**__!"_) and quickly shatters all of the empty display bottles. A loud spark spits out of the machine and jumps over her knuckles, burning some of the cloth glove. She keeps bashing at the machine, a furious cry emerging from her lips as the tough metal crumples and breaks beneath the Kingdom Key.

Panting, she crouches down beside the ruined machine, using her weapon to prop herself up. A torrent of munny spills onto the ground, the golden-blue shapes sprinkling all over Xion's boots. After them, bottle upon bottle of Elixirs, Potions and Ethers tumble out, the first ones shattering and throwing their contents out in brightly-colored sprays of liquid. Slowly, she loosens her grip on the Kingdom Key, forcing her head up so she could glare at the battered hunk of machinery. "Stupid machine." She says softly, dropping to her knees so she could pick up the bottles. She quickly shoves as many as she could carry into her pockets, leaving one out to drink as she walked back to the room.

Xion begins to turn around and go back but then she stops, looking down at the units of munny that were scattered all over the floor. They're sticky with the sweet potions, but it's still munny. She frowns, remembering that Axel had told her time and time again never to steal from other people. The Heartless were fine to take munny from, they had taken it from their victims after all, but never from other people. She looks up at the machine. Did it count as a person? Didn't the Organization get this munny?

Briefly, she imagines the Superior's stern face, flinching beneath those cold golden eyes. She wouldn't want him to be angry with her... She blinks, shaking her head in disgust. Suddenly needing the support, Xion leans her head against the battered machine. She wasn't _part_ of the Organization anymore. It didn't matter... especially since these machines had most likely been abandoned by them when they left Castle Oblivion.

With a quiet shake of her head, she scoops up the munny, placing the units inside of a small pouch tied to her belt.

Xion lazily sips at the Elixir she had gotten as she walks, running her hand on the white walls of the corridor as she does so. Vaguely, she remembers Axel telling her that he had never gotten (too) lost in the strange castle, all due to this little trick. It helped a little, he told her again and again. Xion isn't sure if it actually did anything, but it was reassuring at the least.

When she comes across an empty room, Xion stops and sits down on the floor, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. She smooths it out on the floor, quickly scribbling another square onto her rough diagram. She connects it to the last one with a line and sighs softly. "This is getting me nowhere..." She says to herself, shaking her head. She looks at her map, her shoulders drooping in despair.

This was only one floor of the Castle, and every day, each floor changed drastically from how it was the day before. Sometimes, it even changed when she went from one floor to another. She smacks her hand into her head, groaning. Just how many times had she run into a wall already? After the second day she was awake, she had found herself in so many dead-ends she had forgotten the exact number. All she really knows now was that breaking down a wall did _not_ work at all.

It only left her tired.

Xion leans against the wall, rubbing her eyes tiredly with her sleeve. "I need... to get out of here..." She says softly, beginning to drift off into unconsciousness once again. Her eyes flutter close slowly, her head leaning to the side slightly as she begins to sleep.

Perhaps it was the lack of food, the excess of stimulating Potions and Elixirs, but Xion begins to dream.

* * *

_She sat in the middle of the floor, looking up at the figures moving around her. They don't look at her at first, only continued to speak animatedly to each other or to gesture furiously. For some reason, none of their faces were visible. Xion began to stand up but crumbled again almost immediately, her legs wobbling too weakly to support her weight. _

_It was almost as if she was a child, looking up at the bigger 'grown-ups' above her. Occasionally, one of the people would turn in her direction and seem to stare at her. She couldn't really tell; they were all wearing armor. It was such beautiful armor. All of them, even the women, were wearing some variation of it, tight-fitting pieces of metal sculpted to their bodies. It looked like a second skin on some of them, as if they were used to running around in it. Some of them – they looked like they were younger than some of the bigger men, whose armored suits were covered in deep scratches from some long ago battles – glittered like the sun, their bright hues adding life to the blank, white room. _

_Then they began to dance._

_Each one grabbed a partner – some of the men immediately grabbed a feminine-looking armor, others seemed not to care whether their partner was the same gender as they were – and began to swaying and twirling to some unheard rhythm. They danced in a ring around her, strangely but somehow involving the younger girl into their dance even though she was separated from them._

_Some of the very youngest ones – one was in gold armor, the other silver – briefly held their hands out to hers, as if asking her if she would like to be their partner. Before Xion could respond, two armored girls grabbed their waists, dragging them into their bodies and twirling them around. The two boys laughed soundlessly, their shoulders shaking with amusement, before they spun the girls around, beginning to dance around her with their two partners._

_Although there was a smile on her lips, the tears trickled down Xion's cheeks, the pain of having been left out stinging her chest. She wasn't in armor, she didn't have a partner to dance with. She wasn't part of the group, not really. One of the young pairs of armor – she wasn't sure how she knew that they were younger, only that they looked younger than some of the bigger armored people – looks at her and waves. This armored figure was distinctively feminine, as the blue-ish gray metal clung to her every curve and emphasized them greatly. _

_Xion waved back, settling onto her place on the floor, unhappily accepting that she wouldn't be able to join in. Before she could even blink, the blue armor had grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet with the help of one of the two boys that had wanted to be her partner before. Startled, she stared at them, somehow knowing that they were smiling at her even through their helmets. _

'Who... who are you...? Do I... know you... at all...?'

_The vague thought couldn't come out of her mouth, not even though she was so entrapped within her dream that it seemed like reality. The two armored figures finished pulling her to her feet and before she could even speak, the two teenagers pull off their helmets._

_One, the girl who had been kind enough to help her, was a girl who looked so familiar, that it made Xion's heart ache with the sight of her. Her dark blue hair, one that she knew she had never seen before, hung close to her shoulders in a boy-like cut, but her expression was so defiantly feminine, no one would have ever mistaken her – like they had done to Xion – for being anything less than female. Her lips moved as soon as she noticed the younger girl's gaze._

_Xion heard nothing._

_As soon as the boy turned to her, Xion let out a soft, startled cry, unable to help herself. Automatically, her hands moved up to cover her mouth, allowing her to muffle the boy's name before it fell out. Sora looked at her with a friendly, if vague smile, before turning to the group. His golden armor gleamed beautifully in the faint light of the dance hall, almost like the sun itself, as he pointed his finger toward the girl in the middle of the group. After a moment – from the savage expression on his face, he looked like he was yelling soundlessly to the group around them – he bowed his head, closing his eyes in what looked like grief. _

_Her heart throbbed violently inside of her chest, burning her with the fierce guilt of knowing that he was crying because of her. Xion attempted to take a step forward, reaching out with her hand to touch the boy's shoulder. She didn't know what she was going to do: comfort him, scold him for crying, maybe embrace the boy who had become her Other half._

_All she knew was that someone grabbed her hand, dragging her back into the middle of the circle. She looked behind her shoulder, staring at the boy in the dull green and gray armor. He bowed his head to her, his hand entrapping hers. '_You don't belong here. Who are you?' _He asked her quietly, slipping his arm around her waist in order to bring her in closer. _

_Xion looked at him and bowed her head, hiding the tears that began to fall from her eyes. He was right. She didn't belong. She didn't belong anywhere. _'I'm only... dreaming...' _She told him quietly, shaking her head in the same sort of grief that had overcome Sora._

* * *

Xion wakes up, realizing that her feet had somehow gotten the idea to begin walking on their own. Still tangled in the grip of sleep, she feels the cool stone of the walls beneath her gloved fingers, showing her the way... to what?

She blinks rapidly, trying to snap herself out of it, but something inside of her was simply too strong. It was like someone was leading her to somewhere, dragging her along on a little string, like a stage-master did to a puppet. _'Hurry...'_ It seems to tell her, begging her to hurry up as her body speeds up its walk.

When it tells her to, Xion opens the door to a room. Her heart begins to throb eagerly, as if there was something she had to see right away. She winces and clutches at her chest for a moment but steps inside of the room anyway, sleepily startled that she somehow managed to navigate her way around the confusing labyrinth of rooms and floors. Bowing her head, she walks across the room, nearly tripping over the large throne-like chair that lay in the middle.

She bangs her shin on the chair, falling backward with a soft cry. Landing heavily on her butt, she winces, clutching at her injured appendage in agony. "Darn... it..." She gasps out, blinking the tears out of her eyes weakly. She lies there a moment, simply moaning in pain, rocking herself gently as she struggles to make the pain go away faster.

When she had recovered enough, she looks up.

Her jaw drops and this time, the tears that pooled in her eyes weren't from pain. "You... can't be him..." She whispers hoarsely, her voice numbed by the boy who lay sleeping in the throne.

The boy slumbers on, his head bowed forward, his golden hair covering the dark blue eyes that Xion knew so well.

_Roxas._


	3. Chapter 3: For The Boy in Gold

**Oh sweet mother of the gods, how many chapters I have planned for this. Alrighty, so I'm gonna explain something NOW so that later you reviewers don't attack me with flames later on. This story is separated into various arcs, focusing on different worlds. So far, we're in the very first arc called the "For The Ones Left Behind" arc. This is the one arc (so far) that has various worlds in it, though Castle Oblivion is obviously the main one. This is where I'll be introducing my characters and setting up the plot for our main baddie to take the stage in the "Preparation for a Voyage" arc. Won't be for a while, guys. You'll have to wait to see my guy. :D**

**Though, I gotta say this. I have pretty extensive knowledge of Disney movies, particularly the animated ones... so if you guys want to suggest a world for me to do an arc on, you're more than welcome to, readers. I WILL NOT DO LIVE ACTION unless I have PERSONALLY seen the movie and approved it. So High School Musical is banned because all I'll make Xion do is kill Zac Efron's character in it. You have been warned. So far, these are my worlds: Princess and the Frog, Tron (not Legacy), and Mulan. **

* * *

Chapter Three: For The Boy in Gold

Peeking up at him again, Xion stares at the sleeping boy, waiting for him to move. As if he was completely oblivious to her presence, he continues to sleep, barely even moving around as he shifted further into the throne. 'Roxas,' if that's who it was, sleeps peacefully. From the blank look on his face, he looked like he had been sleeping for a very long time now.

Xion begins to go up to him, before she freezes, shaking her head. She looks around the room one more time, suddenly realizing what felt just so bizarre. "Everything's... covered in dust..." She says out loud, staring at the white room in surprise. And it was. It's almost as if someone had just come in and sprayed the heavy stuff all over the room; even the boy was covered in it, as if he had just been lying there for years without moving or waking up.

When she realizes this, Xion knows that there's no way that this boy could be Roxas. He had been here too long, much too long in fact, for it to be her missing friend. She freezes for a moment, closing her eyes against the barrage of painful memories threatening to appear in her mind. She can feel their teasing call as she walks towards the boy, her hand reaching out to touch him.

The moment her fingers caress his cheek, she staggers, as if under a sudden heavy weight. She blinks rapidly, her eyes closing slowly. "Why... do I feel so... sleep...y...?" She murmurs softly before collapses onto the sleeping boy, her own mind shutting down and vanishing into darkness once more.

Within her chest, the boy's Heart beats loudly.

* * *

_Xion slowly wakes up, her shoulder being shaken as if someone was trying to wake her up. Someone tells her something softly, shaking her just a little harder. She blinks sleepily for a moment before brushing the boy off, curling back into herself. _

'This world is connected...' _A man's voice whispers hoarsely into her thoughts, disrupting them with what almost seemed like a bizarre, quiet contemplation. Her eyes fly open and she inhales sharply, hearing the voice's dark tone echo within her mind like a cruel, harsh narrator. She looks around, seeking that voice._ 'This world remembers... the memories of those who have been left behind... and that of those who have been lost forever.'

_Briefly, she sees the image of a smiling trio, the boy in gold standing with a girl in blue and a boy in brown._

_Briefly, she sees the darkness within their eyes, hate and rage replacing the love and joy that they had once shared. _

'This world is connected. Remembering the lives that it once held, of those that have died within it. … Of those who became lost in the Darkness... forever... Just as you will... **Xion**...' _The voice tells her softly in a warning tone, a sudden malice appearing in it. She turns to it, realizing just whose voice it was._

"S... ora?"

* * *

He had remained in his dreams for what seemed like centuries – for all he knew it had been for hours or days – but he hadn't had a companion in them for a long time. He had been wary of the girl at first, thinking that she was another monster created by the Darkness to torment him, just as the images of his friends had been long ago.

But no, she was a dreamer just like he was, lost within herself... and afraid. She was absolutely terrified, as if she hadn't been able to release herself from the malicious thoughts of her own mind. It was such a familiar feeling, one that he remembered well. The thought made him want to comfort her, even as she slipped away from him into the deeper dreams he had grown used to having. In his mind's eye – as bizarre and contorted as it had become throughout his sleep – she was covered in silver chains, remnants of the memories she couldn't let go.

Just like him, she was having dreams that she couldn't let go... and just like he had, the dreams – and in turn, the memories connected to said dreams – were slowly going to drive her into Darkness if she let them. He understood her, understood the need to have the dreams guilt her into rage and hatred. He had been there... it had only been the protection of his dearest friends' charm that had keep him from vanishing into the Darkness with his other self.

He didn't know if the same spell would work on her.

She dreamed on along with him, and he felt closer to her than he had ever felt to his old master. The only other people he had felt so close were his friends, the ones that had given up everything to protect him. He closed his eyes, thinking about them and about the protection that he had received from their sacrifice. A vaguely happy smile slowly crossed his lips at the memories of his friends, reminding him that sometimes there were more important things to look after.

The boy in gold placed his hand on the dreaming girl's shoulder, squeezing it lightly as the stolen Heart continued to beat within her body. _**"You... can wake up... soon..."**_ He told her carefully, the words clumsily slipping out of his mouth and into her ear. It had been so long since he'd found a reason to speak in his dreams. There had been no point, not since about a few months ago.

The one person who listened had vanished.

* * *

_'W...a...k...e...'_

She stirs slowly, weakly shaking her head. The voice was so familiar... it was so familiar... The girl clutches at her head and mumbles something, trying to wake herself up. "Who... who are you?" She asks quietly, feeling her head buzz with the strange sleep, refusing to let her wake up fully.

The voice remains silent for a moment before she feels the barest trickle of heat on her forehead, gently caressing it as her bangs slowly move out of her closed eyes. She automatically flinches away from it, not trusting the person's touch at all. A quiet sigh emerges from the boy's lips, and he smiles sadly as he pulls himself away from her.

Xion opens her eyes, immediately shielding them from the intense sunlight. The boy that wasn't her friend looks at her for a moment before gently wrapping his fingers around her wrist, pulling her up to a sitting position slowly. Despite the obvious care he was taking, Xion's stomach still churns, threatening to make her throw up the little she had consumed in the last few days.

Somehow, she still manages to sit up.

Xion looks at the boy weakly, wondering what was going on. Like before, when she had dreamed of him, he was wearing armor; this time though, it was only on his shoulder. Seeing her curious expression, he grins shyly, putting his hand on it nervously. "It's something my master gave me a long time ago... it feels weird not to wear it now, I've had it so long," he explains quietly, shrugging as if he didn't really know his own feelings towards it. Xion nods, glancing at her own Organization jacket. "I... think I understand that." She tells him, smiling a friendly, though equally as shy, grin at him.

He chuckles, turning his gaze away from her and onto the sunset in front of them. With a sudden start, Xion recognizes the large tree they were sitting under, having seen it so many times in Sora's memories. The paopu tree's branches rustle softly in the warm island breeze, its star-shaped fruits brushing up against each other like they were trying to tell the pair sitting beneath them to reach up and take a bite.

Xion looks back towards the boy, who stares out into the ocean with a bizarre expression. It was something like a mixture between hope and despair, anger and acceptance, sadness and love. He bows his head as the orange sun in the distance slowly continues its descent into the waters, its fading light still managing to illuminate the two teenagers' features perfectly.

Even as she sits there, she couldn't help but notice his extreme resemblance to her best friend, from the color of his hair to the way that his eyes looked heavily weary, like he had seen the entire world and it had crushed him anyway. He looks like he had been beaten, and beaten viciously by the world. Like he had been forced to give everything that was ever precious to him up.

And yet... there was still a smile on his face.

Even as he sits there, he can't help but remember his friend and the startling exactness of this girl to her. Sure, her hair was brown, but that motherly expression was so close to his friend's that he couldn't help but wonder if they were related or something. Probably not, since Aqua had been one of those people who looks like other people. She had gotten in trouble so many times over it... and yet... Ventus can see a very strange difference between the two, one that made him want to go over to the younger girl and give her a big bear hug the way that Terra had given him when he was ever down.

There was still that look of utmost misery in her dark blue eyes.

* * *

Within her chest, the boy's Heart begins to react to its proximity to its owner, beginning to beat erratically. It's almost as it was trying to get out and go back to where it was supposed to go. Either way, the sleeping girl doesn't seem to feel it, even when it beats so loud that it began to echo throughout the chamber that they lay in.

With a slight _popping_ sound, the tiny light slowly begins to separate itself from her, doing what normally only a Keyblade of Heart could do to a person.

A single tear trickles from beneath the child's closed eyes, the only sign that she was in any kind of pain.

Meanwhile, the boy's serene face suddenly contorts, his eyelids squeezing even more tightly closed. His hands clench around the girl's shoulders, squeezing them tightly as the sweat begins to trickle down his paling face. For the first time in years, his head suddenly bends forward as the beginnings of a scream starts to bubble up within his throat.

* * *

Slowly, he trails a hand along the cold white wall, an annoyed expression suddenly appearing on the man's face as he pauses. With a roll of his emerald eyes, he looks over his shoulder at the man walking behind him. "Hey, I know you don't like her, but she's still part of the Organization, Saïx." He says irritably, glaring at the man as he pauses.

His cold golden eyes stare at him blankly before a slight smile appears on his face. He flicks a strand of blue hair out of his face before saying something quietly. "I do not see why we have to look for a traitor, Axel." Saïx tells him, his deep voice barely even echoing in the hallway of the Castle. Axel grimaces.

"She's not a traitor! It's that impostor bastard that did this whole thing, _he's_ the one who made her run off! Just lemme talk to her, I'll straighten her out!" Axel exclaims, slamming his hand onto the wall in emphasis. Saïx looks at him calmly before rolling his eyes, obviously not impressed.

But for a brief moment, he walks up behind Axel and puts his hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly before walking up ahead, flicking his long tresses over his shoulder. "Split up. We cover more ground. Get back to the foyer in two hours," The Moon Diviner says softly over his shoulder, turning the corner into a second room to peer inside. "We'll find her that way." He finishes as Axel begins to smile at him.

"Yeah. I got that mem-" In the same instant, both men suddenly hear a loud, anguished scream from somewhere above them. They look up in unison, identical startled expressions taking hold on their faces. Without a word, they both hold their hands out to their respective sides.

The two weapons spark back into existence, the sharp ax-like Claymore and the knifed Chakram gleam menacingly as they sprint down the long corridor. Axel begins to hurry even faster than his compatriot, if only for one reason.

The scream sounded like Xion.


	4. Chapter 4: Within the White Walls

**Usual disclaimer here, please. Oh, and just to clarify: Lots of Organization members are currently looking for Xion. This all takes place AFTER Days and Chain of Memories. Hope the length is better! **

* * *

Chapter Four: Within the White Walls

Xion stirs slightly, her fingers automatically curling around the warm pillow she was lying on. She buries her face into it again, groaning sleepily. "Axel, no... we don't have to go to Wonderland until tomorrow..." She says quietly, quietly telling herself that she had a couple more minutes before she had to get up.

You know, for real.

A low, weak chuckle suddenly echoes into her ear as someone's hands slowly pat her back. "Okay, you don't have to get up yet..." She hears someone say quietly as a sudden weight crashes down onto her forehead, the weight of someone pressing their head against hers. Xion instantly freezes in place, stuck between a warm bed (actually someone's body, now that she realizes it) and dignity.

Dignity it is.

Xion leaps up, shrieking her head off as the boy smiles weakly at her from his throne, beginning to sit up a bit. He shakes his head, groaning as he attempts to move slightly towards her. "Could you please shut up? You're making my head hurt." He whimpers, touching offended body part in emphasis. As if someone had suddenly flicked off her volume switch, Xion stops screaming and instead just stares at him with her mouth gaped open, like she was going to start up again.

The boy's dark blue eyes flicker in what seems like an amused expression but he only lifts his head up, looking around at the room cautiously. It was almost like he expected to be attacked by something... or someone. When he finds out that the room was completely clear, he turns to the young Nobody, his expression beginning to pierce through her heart as easily as a knife through flesh. She winces under its intensity, dropping her gaze to the floor.

He continues to stare.

Xion's cheek flush scarlet as she fidgets nervously, startled by the suddenly awakening of the boy. After what seems like an eternity, the boy finally drops his gaze from her face, instead focusing on his own hands. He wiggles them slightly, a cheerful little grin slowly spreading across his lips. He looks back at her and he reaches one towards her. Xion can see the small wristband on his wrist – a black and white checkered one – slip down his arm slightly as he leans his hand towards her.

Like a child discovering their mother after a long period of separation, the boy giggles softly.

He tilts his head at her, grinning. "I'm awake!" He announces in a proud voice, saying it as if it was a great accomplishment. Xion glances around the dust-covered room and smiles back at him, nodding. "Uh huh. You are." She says softly, not knowing what else to say. Secretly, her mind begins to race. What exactly had happened? Why had he woken up? From the look of the dust... he had been asleep here for days, months, maybe even years? She rubs her chin in deep thought, unknowingly looking at him with the same intensity that he had had. Decades could even be possible. … Castle Oblivion had been abandoned for years before the Organization came in and took possession of it.

Her eyes trail up toward the ceiling as she thinks, wondering what the – as Vexen would have said – change in the equation had been. She hums softly to herself, mulling the thoughts around in her head. Well, Castle Oblivion had been abandoned before the Organization came here. It had been empty for years or so they thought. She looks back at the smiling boy for a second before going back to her pondering. If he had been here the whole time, and they had never found him, then the Castle itself must have been – she pauses, frowning.

The Castle changed its appearance daily, even hourly at times. It all depended on what you were doing. If you stayed on the same floor, you could wake up in a new room or even in a hallway if you slept through the night. In this way... it was more than likely that the boy could have remained hidden for so long. The Castle itself was way too tricky and too unpredictable to _not_ allow him to hide. But... why was he here? Xion's eyes suddenly widen as she remembers something that they had told her long before, one of the reasons why they never went to the Castle after the defection of the neophytes.

The memory echoes through her mind as she looks back at the boy.

_Axel looked at her suspiciously, as if wondering what the heck she was up to with her question. "Castle Oblivion?" He asked her, taking a suddenly chomp of his sea salt ice cream. With his mouth full, she could tell he didn't exactly want to answer her._

_She nodded anyway, looking at him hopefully. "I just want to know how you guys found it. … and why... it feels like I belong there." She added that last part under her breath, but from the startled look on Axel's face, she knew that he had heard her. He sighs, leaning back slightly against the tower, closing his eyes to think about it for a moment. _

_When he finally spoke, his voice was soft, even sad in its tone. It made her sit up straight, looking at him as he told the story. "That place... it just suddenly appeared one day," Axel said quietly, looking out into the sunset with a solemn expression. Although he was looking right at it, it didn't look like he was actually seeing it. "Xemnas found it. It was like he knew where it was... and that day, when he found it, it was like he suddenly found home again," The older Nobody said as he smiled, and with that slight twitch of his lips, Xion knew he was also thinking about his own home. "If Xemnas had found his home, then why'd he abandon the Castle and leave it as a research lab?" She wondered to herself out loud. _

_Axel took another moment to answer her. _

"_He had us all searching the whole Castle, looking for something _**he**_ didn't even know existed, Xion. __We never did find it. All we did was get lost. … Xemnas was angry, real angry, as angry as a Nobody can be when we couldn't find it. He just left it, saying that the Castle was useless. … Whatever it was... he really wanted to find it." Here, Axel took another bite of his ice cream, his eyes closing slightly in a rare moment of sympathetic sadness for their leader. "It must have been important to him." _

The boy. Xemnas... must had been looking for him. That had to be it! Even the Superior had been looking for this boy!

The boy grins, looking at her curiously. "You look like you've had a revelation." He says thoughtfully, smiling brightly. He rubs at the side of his face, obviously curious on what she had been thinking about. Although she didn't know it, Xion had been on his thoughts too, more specifically on the bizarre resemblance between her and his friend. And from the way she kept looking at him, it was clear that she had figured out something about why he was in this place.

Besides, her concern was kind of cute.

It wasn't until she scowls at him, taking back a step that he realizes that he said the thought aloud. "Excuse me?" She asks curiously, sure that she had misheard him. This time, the boy flushes scarlet and he jabbers a few seconds before falling silent, turning away from her in embarrassment. As he thinks about what to say to the girl (and how to word his apology), Xion chuckles to herself.

He sure was weird.

Instead of allowing him to answer, Xion walks up to the throne, holding her hand out to the boy. He blinks at her, staring in confusion at her outstretched palm. It's almost as if he had never seen a black leather glove before... or maybe he was just surprised. He stares for a moment longer before Xion speaks quietly. "It's Xion. Not the girl. Xion. … It's nice to meet you." She says to him, flashing him a brief but friendly smile.

The expression in his eyes suddenly turns dark as he looks at her, a strange look of misery appearing on his face. For a moment, she can see right into him and whether it was into his soul or into his heart she didn't know. All she knows is that once, he had had friends, people just like her maybe. And they left him all alone here in this Castle.

_'You... were abandoned too?'_

The boy hesitates for a moment longer before curling his fingers around hers, gripping them gently and then tightly when he realizes she wasn't going to flinch out of his grasp. "N...Name's Ventus," He says softly, smiling weakly at her. "Ventus?" She asks curiously. He nods and suddenly, his cheerful grin appears on his face. "But you can call me Ven, Xion!" He declares with a laugh, rubbing his cheek with his free hand.

In response, Xion sits down on his throne and laughs. As she curls up besides him, her legs pressing up against her chest, Ventus immediately begins to ask a thousand questions. Continuing to laugh, Xion tries her best to answer each one of them, striking up the conversation whenever the wind within Ventus's chest falters or whenever he demands a particularly odd question. Ventus quickly finds himself on the defensive under her razor-sharp questions and the children's laughter echoes cheerfully through the space that had been silent for so long.

Even without them realizing it, the two lost souls had found each other. … And once more they had a friend.

* * *

"Xiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooo n!" Axel shouts at the top of his lungs, cupping his hands around his mouth in an impromptu bullhorn. "Xiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooon ! If you can hear me, please come back down! We're on the second floor!" He yells loudly, making Saïx's ears flinch with annoyance as he keeps telling Xion instructions to come down and almost complete-hearted attempts to convince the girl that she was going to be safe with him.

The Luna Diviner shakes his head, his golden eyes rolling up to the ceiling in a gesture of _'please help __me, Kingdom Hearts, I'm with an idiot.'_ He turns to Axel, suddenly interrupting his yelling by clapping his hand firmly over the red-head's mouth. "If she was here, Axel... your yelling is going to frighten her," He informs him quietly, shaking Axel's head slightly in emphasis. "She's most likely terrified that the Superior is going to punish her, maybe even transform her into a Dusk if she comes back. … She's our only Keyblade Master. We need her to come quietly and without force on our part." Axel grunts softly under his hand, shaking his head fiercely in an attempt to get free. Saïx only squeezes his jaw, making the man flinch that much harder under his grip. "Is that clear?" He demands quietly, looking his former best friend in the eye.

For a moment, it looks like Axel was about to do something stupid, like lick his hand to make Saïx let go of him and then run off screaming hysterically to Xion that the big bad Saïx was here and to open up a Corridor so they could run off into the sunset together.

But even he wasn't that stupid.

Axel nods once, his green eyes darkening with rage as Saïx drops his hand. He rubs his jaw for a moment before muttering something softly under his breath. "Did you chop onions or is that the way your nasty glove tastes?" He asks irritably, turning away from VII immediately. Saïx doesn't answer him and Axel becomes quiet, even down right hostile to his new little partner.

Even Saïx couldn't ignore the way that the slightly younger Nobody was glaring at him from behind him. It's really quite disturbing, after all, knowing that the person you were working with wanted to kill you.

In response, Saïx only stays silent. Even for a Nobody and even without his Heart, Axel was highly emotional when it came to that little girl. That little puppet had managed to find him in a way that even he hadn't been able to when they had been Others. Saïx scratches at the long thin scar at the bridge of his nose, thinking for a moment as they walk forward throughout the Castle. The scream had stopped, and so either Xion was safe and had stopped being startled by whatever had frightened her... or she was dead and/or critically injured.

Personally (and rather pathetically), he hoped it was the second one.

Axel glowers at him as the emotionally blank Nobody turns to look at him, knowing that the hostility was due to him being unable to find the poor child. Axel wants nothing more than to simply run up and find his little friend, to keep her safe and all that emotional Other garbage. Even so... Saïx couldn't help but allow the faint smile to cross his lips, albeit briefly.

"Axel," He says softly, clapping his hand onto the Flurry of Dancing Flames' skinny shoulder. Axel flinches at the touch, even downright glaring at him as he squeezes it gently. "We'll find her soon. … And if she's hurt... when she recovers, we'll take her to the Tower. The ice cream'll be on me." Saïx informs him quietly.

As if he had suddenly been slapped, Axel jumps, staring at him in sheer shock. Slowly, a very eager grin stretches his lips and he lets out what sounds like a happy laugh before he strolls after his former... and current friend.

* * *

Ventus looks at Xion curiously, obviously wondering what she was doing. Ignoring him, she continues to carefully line up the bottles of potions and elixirs on the floor besides his throne. She lines the small bottles up first by color, then by type and then finally by size.

When she finishes rearranging them for the last time, she slams her fist angrily on the floor, making Ven flinch slightly. "We don't have any food. … We're going to have to leave here, Ven." Xion explains softly, pointing to the dozen bottles of strengthening agents that she had lined up. In that instant, they both understand that the meager supply might have been enough for about a week for Xion... but together, it was not enough for even four days.

Ven wilts, knowing that the shortage may very well be his own fault. However, he still nods and looks out at the doors he hadn't approached... or remembered approaching in years. "Yeah... I want to know where I am." He says softly, more to himself than her. There's a solemn look in his eyes, something that seems out of odds with the cheerful smile stretched across his face.

She stares at him, confused at his sudden grave nature. "But... we're in Castle Oblivion. Didn't I tell-?" Xion starts to say when Ven shakes his head. He turns his gaze to hers and laughs softly. If she didn't know any better, she would have called it a bitter laugh. "There's a difference between knowing the name of the place... and knowing the place, don't you think?" The boy says in an honest voice, though Xion had no idea what the heck he was talking about. Either way, when Ven stretches out an arm for her to hold, she still takes it, hooking the proffered arm around her throat.

With her firm grip on him, Ven stands up weakly, having to force all of his weight onto Xion's shoulders because he couldn't support on his own. She grunts slightly with the effort, struggling to keep him standing for a moment before she simply grabs his belt in a mock fireman's hold. With the odd position in place, they both grin at each other. They both knew that starting a new journey might be hard or maybe it was so easy that it had already begun.

Ven looks around everywhere, surveying nearly every part of the hallway with solemn, but somehow eager blue eyes. Xion, too focused on carrying him, doesn't notice where her feet are taking them. "So, what was this place used for? You never explained that." Ven says curiously as he begins squinting at a small sign in the distance, trying to see what it said. The Nobody girl blows her bangs out of her face with a well-aimed breath and squints herself. If she was right...

"This place is a research facility, our Superior found it." She finds herself saying quietly. "Most of the Replica project was done here, and so was the Memory project." Ven stays silent for a moment before asking his next question. "Your 'Superior' guy isn't exactly creative with names, is he? It sounds like something pretty straightforward. How can you study memories? … And what's a Replica?" Xion nods, stiffening slightly under his body. It was going to be painful to say this... but... Ven deserved to know.

"I'm a Replica. I'm No.i. I was one of the first Replicas they made; I'm one of two successful ones. I don't know about the other one, but I was created from the heart of a boy named Sora." The words flow out of her uncharacteristically quickly, making her tremble in fear. If Ven was smart, he'd probably abandoned her at first chance. She wouldn't blame him, either. Ven listens without saying a word, too intent on what she was saying to speak. "My friend and I... were created to become that boy. Or rather, I was. He was his Nobody and that's where the memories to make me came from. They figured out how to make clones of people out of their memories. The Memory... and Naminé projects led into that." She finishes quietly, continuing to drag her friend in silence now.

Ven looks at her for a moment, staying silent for just a bit longer. When he did speak, it was only very quietly. "It sounds... lonely. Really lonely, Xion," She freezes at the word, her eyes widening as a thousand emotions fly through her heart, each one piercing her to the very core as the boy speaks. "Not knowing if you're real... or not. Or if it's all a dream. Or if anyone likes you for being who you are, rather than what you are. It sounds so lonely, Xion." Seeing the hysterical tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks, Ven hugs her with the arm she had slung around her shoulder, patting her back with a soothing caress, one that she had never really known before.

"It's okay, Xion. It's not bad to cry." He tells her as she cries, crying for the very first time for herself. He slowly lowers the miserable girl to the floor, kneeling with her as he continues to comfort her. She buries her hands in her face, allowing herself to wail as loud as she wanted. "But I killed Roxas! I killed Sora, I killed them both and I didn't even have the courage to die myself!" She screams, slamming her now clenched fist into the ground angrily. There's a loud cracking noise the instant that her knuckle hits the floor, but neither of them notice. "They both died to save a girl they don't even like! Someone who's not a real girl, someone who's not real at all!" Xion wails, mourning for the loss of her dearest friends and of the boy she could no longer remember.

At that moment, Xion learned about heartbreak and that hearts could shatter. She collapses into Ven's arms, screaming softly for her friends to come back. Ven just hugs her, remembering another pair of friends that had done the exact same thing for him. He looks up toward the sky, up toward where they had once seen the Heart of all Worlds displayed in the sky. He closes his eyes, vowing silently to himself.

_'Aqua... Terra... I promise. I promise I'll take care of this girl. When we meet again, I'll be sure to bring her home. Just like you did with me.'_

* * *

The sad thing about crying with someone, Xion discovers, is that you never exactly know what to say when you stop. With a flushed face, she continues to walk down the hallway, having left Ven behind for a bit while she searched for something for him to eat. She feels bad about just leaving the poor helpless guy behind, but she needed a moment to compose herself... and possibly figure out what the heck to do now.

She opens up the sliding door, automatically wincing as she slips into the laboratory and closes the door behind her. She knew this place. This was where she had been born. Xion rubs at her suddenly aching temples, knowing that it was no good trying to remember this stuff anymore. Anything before Sora's death hurt her now for some reason. Every memory with Roxas, Axel, the Organization... all of it caused pain now.

All she had now were the memories of Ven.

She blushes harder, shaking her head in embarrassment. It was an odd way of putting it, actually. But the memories of that boy were all she had so far. She shakes her head again before focusing on her task. Food. Lots of it. She picks up a pile of books from one of the desks scattered around the room, briefly focusing on the titles and recognizing them as indexes to much larger files. There are bookshelves cramped onto the walls and even in the middle of the room, no doubt the files that these indexes belonged to.

Suddenly feeling a rebellious urge to mess everything up, Xion throws the pile of indexes to the floor, smiling as they land heavily with a satisfyingly loud thump. She moves onto the next table, picking up a small box and opening it up carefully. She squeals at the sudden reek of rotten fish and slams the cover back on as fast as possible, choking slightly on the smell. Vexen sure had a sick sense of humor, if that's what he had eaten for lunch!

She chokes on the lingering scent, gagging as she pulls her jacket up to cover her nose. She continues to look around the room, continuing to cough under her breath. As she wanders around the room, the vague memories of her being in this room begin to crowd in her mind, as much as she ignored them. She could feel the breathing tube down her throat from the Memory Baths and she immediately associated the name with the large tanks in the corner of the large laboratory. She closes her eyes, shaking her head slightly.

It wasn't the time to remember.

Suddenly, the vague memory of watching someone crouch down underneath one of the desks comes to her mind. Being so vague, it doesn't cause any more pain than a slight twinge in her temple. She pauses, thinking about it for a moment. The man had been Vexen... the long blond hair testified to that... and she remembers that he had hit his head on the bottom of the desk, screamed out a loud curse and something about 'respect' before he turned to look at her. She remembered that he looked angry, maybe because he realized she had been awake. Xion giggles quietly, hiding her amused face underneath the black hood. It had been so funny, even back then. He had had to open up the tank and adjust her breathing tube, she had been laughing so hard.

…. And in his hand when he opened it up was a can.

Xion's eyes widen and she ducks underneath one of the desks, now knowing that Vexen had kept all of his food in there. A small row of cabinets, none much higher than her knee, greet her gaze and she smiles at them, her stomach beginning to rumble excitedly. She ignores the small combination locks on them and immediately turns the dial to read the number four. It clicks open, allowing her to swing it open and start grabbing as many cans she could carry.

* * *

Ven looks at the small tin can in his head, a big smile threatening to spread across his face. Even so, he manages to lift the can in the air and say with a completely serious face: "Peaches?"

And in exact unison, as they had had done for the last three times he had said that word, they bust out laughing hysterically. Xion falls to the ground besides Ven, quite literally rolling around on the floor laughing. It was so strange, that moment of 'we don't know why we're laughing but oh my goodness, it's just so funny' he kept causing. From the first startled "Holy- that's a lot of peaches!" that he had spouted off when she brought him the food, they couldn't stop laughing.

It was just one of those moments.

In a few minutes – during which they did not look at each other or at the fruit they started munching on from the can – the two Keyblade wielders slowly make their way through a few tins of peaches. "Hey, Xion?" Ven asks as he sips the peach juice from the can. Xion glances up but continues to focus on her meal, not saying much. Of course, this doesn't faze Ven. He was too used to being ignored. "Just how long have you been here? … And... how long have I been here?" He wonders out loud, scratching at his cheek a bit.

Xion stays silent for a moment, mentally counting the days herself. Let's see, there was the day she fell here. … A few days of unconsciousness... then the two days before she found Ven asleep... and then... She frowns. Another day or two of being unconscious. And then today. She sighs softly before putting down her tin of peaches, the metal making a soft clinking noise as it meets the tile floor. "A few weeks, I think. For you, Ven..." She pauses, not sure how to say it. "I think you've been here for at least two years."

At the sound of 'two years,' the boy flinches hard like he had been slapped. His jaw drops and he lets out a wild cry. "Two... _**years**_?! You got to be kidding!" He wails in disbelief, shaking his head violently. Xion notices the now panicked look in his eyes and instinctively grabs him, pressing him down just as he tries to stand up and run. He struggles against her violently, trying to run off and do goodness knows what.

After a moment, Xion slams him to the ground, holding his throat in such an obvious threatening way that Ven glares at her angrily. He looks at her hopelessly before the tears start falling, and he begins to sob. "My... friends.. they could be dead!" He says in a heartbroken and quiet voice, fear edging the tone. Xion nods, continuing to hold him down. "Master Xehanort could have gotten them! What if they lost the battle against the Darkness? What if something happened to them?" He sobs, clinging to the younger girl desperately. He knows his own weakness now, and he knows that he couldn't possibly help them in his current condition.

Xion smiles before lightly knocking Ven on the head with her knuckle. He yelps slightly, startled. "Then we'll find them together! Any friend of Ven is a friend of mine." She says in a simple voice, meaning it with everything that she had. Ven smiles back before scowling. "That hurt." He says calmly, allowing her to help him up now. The moment she outstretches her hand towards him, he grabs it.

There was no way for him to the Darkness now.

A low chuckle emerges from the shadows, making the two teenagers jump and spin around to look. "Well. Is this not a touching scene?" The deep voice says quietly, forcing a cold shiver to run down Xion's spine. She knew that voice. Her voice cracks in fear, knowing that she would soon get an answer.

"Xemnas?"


	5. Chapter 5: The Wind's Call

**Ugh, how long has it been since I updated this? Alrighty, for you reviewers/readers who are left, whazzup and I apologize for the delay. I've been sick, both physically and emotionally, mentally even. I'm not makin' excuses, only that it's been affecting my writing. This is the work of about two months. Yeah, since I last updated. Even then, I'm still not satisfied with what I've gotten. I hope you enjoy anyway. **

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine.**

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Wind's Call**

Amber eyes glitter at her as the man in black leans against the wall, observing the now completely silent teenager. Ven's gaze darts back and forth between the two, but confusion prevents him from moving as Xion takes a step towards her former leader.

"Xemnas." She repeats again in a much softer voice and she bows in an almost compulsive way, as if she really couldn't help it.

The older Nobody's lips twitch in mild annoyance at her informality but he continues to smile. He nods slowly, sweeping his arm in a dramatic yet casual gesture at her. "So... this is where you have been hiding, XIV," His fingers curl back up into his palm as he takes a step forward and chuckles in a low, quiet voice. Xion flinches. "To hide in a place that we control... How clever of you. We have searched so many worlds for you... And yet we could not find you until Axel suggested to look in this Castle. That you had some bizarre connection to this place..." With each word, Xemnas takes another step forward, towards her, until he is finally able to place his hand gently on her shoulder.

Xion turns her head away, not looking at the man that so intimidated her. She quivers in his grasp, making Ven begin trying to stand up. "... S-Sorry, Superior." She murmurs quietly, bowing her head in what almost looked like shame... but what was in reality, a very deep fear. Echoes of the threats to turn her into one of the Lesser Nobodies resonate through her mind, emphasizing the shivers as she remembers how they were created. "Don't touch Xion! Get away from her!" The injured boy yells menacingly, as if he was about to stand up and throw Xemnas to the wall.

At the sudden shout, Xemnas turns and notices Ventus for the first time.

His tanned skin immediately turns as pale as a sheet, his breathing begins to accelerate in sheer shock. Xemnas's hand drops from the girl's shoulder just as the tears begin to trickle down his cheeks. "R... Ven...tus?" He whispers hoarsely, staring at Ven like he wanted to run over and make sure that the boy was real. It was so quiet that it was doubtful that Ventus even heard his name come from that little voice. From where Xion stands, she could hear something strange in the Superior's voice. It was... softer. Not as deep. It even had emotion – true heartfelt emotion – in it, despite the lack of a heart.

It sounded like someone completely different.

A quiet chuckle emerges from the Superior's lips as he takes a step towards Ven, his hand outstretched as if to touch him. A brief flash of a strange emotion crosses his face before he composes himself, turning to Xion with another blank but somehow still proud smile. "Xion... you have done well to find this boy. He shall be useful." He says, still looking at Ven rather than her. In response to these words, Ven just raises his hand and smiles.

And of course, he was about to do something completely stupid.

Ven sucks in a breath and wiggles his fingers in the air. "Aero," The boy says calmly. For a moment, all three of them stand completely still, waiting for the shock wave of air that would no doubt blast out of the boy's hand and send the standing pair flying into the wall. Xion flinches, closing her eyes in preparation of being flung into the air. "Huh?" Ven says in confusion, staring at his hand as nothing happens. Both Xemnas and Xion sigh in relief even as the boy starts shouting other spells. "Thunder! Fire! Blizzard! Heal!" He says in confusion, looking around in the air for the resulting elements to start appearing.

They don't appear.

Xion looks at Xemnas, briefly taking in the extremely rare sight of her amused Superior before sneakily beginning to inch towards Ven. "It seems you have forgotten, boy," He says softly to the horrified Ven, smiling superiorly at him. "I wonder... just how many years of sleep did it take you to forget those spells? Is it only your memory of magic that is lacking?" He asks in an almost kind voice, immediately getting back an enraged look as Ven realizes what he is insinuating.

"That's a lie! I remember everyone from home! I remember Aqua, the Master, Terra!" At the last name, Xemnas seems to twitch but Xion doesn't notice it, so focused she is on Ven. Meanwhile, Ven starts trying to stand up again, if only to yell at Xemnas in his face. His arm quivers violently as he tries to throw himself up onto his feet.

The two stare at each other in that macho-man 'I'm going to destroy you' sort of way, the kind that nearly every guy got into with someone they really didn't like. Xion rolls her eyes. Boys. Even when they were different types of creatures they rarely got along.

"Ventus," He says, reaching out towards the boy even as Ven glares at him angrily. "Shut up! No one calls me that except the Master!" He snarls, suddenly glancing over at Xion as if barely realizing what she was going to do. Xion shakes her head and nods towards Xemnas, who takes a single step forward, suddenly intent on touching the furious blond. He smiles, understanding. Ven nods and suddenly falls limp on the floor, waiting for the younger girl to-

The pain across her cheek is sudden, sharp, and all too familiar. "Geez, poppet... if I were you, I wouldn't even _think_ bout doin' that" An amused voice chuckles, laughing. The man's name is on Xion's lips faster than she can even speak. "X-Xigbar!" She stutters, looking around the room nervously. Among one of the six founding members of the Organization, Number II – also known as the Freeshooter – was also among one of the craziest fighters. And in his case, madness had a method: the pair of Arrowguns he held in his hands.

Xigbar chuckles again. "Well, are you going to be a good girl, poppet? Or am I going to have to shoot you again?" He asks curiously, sounding as if he wouldn't mind but would pretend to feel sorry about it later. Xion closes her eyes, focusing on the sound of his voice. If Xigbar was here... this was getting bad. He normally didn't leave the Castle, he was just too unpredictable to let loose. Xemnas only let him out on the most important missions... And he was looking for _her_.

The Superior really wanted her back, it seems.

"Poooooopppet! I asked you a question, ya know!" The older Nobody sneers playfully, laughing as Xion begins to pick him up. It wasn't too impressive of a skill; as long as he stays still, she could maybe find out where he was. And the one quality that Xion shared with both Sora and Roxas was this.

She throws her hand up above her head, shouting with all her might, forcing the last bit of her magic into her words. "Firaga!" She calls out, aiming the gigantic ball of flames at the tiny – almost imperceptible – black speck on the ceiling. She remembers one last bit of physics that Axel had taught her, something that even Roxas hadn't known. Fire, when it enters a small enclosed space and is suddenly given oxygen from an external force, can explode.

Ven gives it one last shot. And this time, it works."Aero!" He screams, aiming the breeze at the flames.

A harsh yelp echoes from the tiny Corridor, accompanied by such furious swearing that Xion claps her hands to her ears to block it out. "Damn! You got me!" The surfer-like voice of Xigbar snarls in appreciation, and then Xion suddenly hears the click of the Arrowguns cocking behind her. "Nice try, poppet, tiger." He says fondly, chuckling even as he pulls the trigger.

The young girl collapses by his feet, screaming even as the arrow speeds through her leg, impaling itself neatly on the wall in front of her. Xigbar wraps his arms around his stomach as the blood begins to flow out of the girl's wound, the bullet having passed through a vital vein. She howls in pain, rocking herself as the fractured femur throbs in sheer agony.

It felt like she was on fire. Literally on fire. The world turns a sickly shade of gray as she collapses.

Ven watches numbly as Xion turns pale, her face suddenly clouding over from how intense the pain was. He had seen someone go through that kind of pain before, and it was obvious that Xion was going into shock. All of a sudden, he finds himself standing, albeit unsteadily. He collapses against the wall, clinging to the white stone as he hobbles towards the girl. He wouldn't let her be in pain. He really couldn't let her be in pain much longer. His first shaky step towards her is unnoticed by the arguing Organization members, and so is his second.

"Whaddya mean, 'don't shoot her?' You said capture and use _force_ if necessary!"

Xion hisses in pain as Ven's hand touches her shoulder, looking up at the older boy as the light fades from her eyes for a moment. Her head bows forward as she loses consciousness, and Ven quickly begins to remember the wound. Sure, it had happened like, not even a minute ago, bu time could be critical.

If he wasn't careful, she would bleed to death in another minute. If that Xigbar had hit either the femoral vein or the great saphenous vein, she could die. Those were the largest veins in the leg, and the femoral vein held a lot of blood.

The young Apprentice places his hands onto the hemorrhaging wound, taking in a deep breath as he whispers the spell quietly. He was no healer. "Curaga. Curaga, curaga." He feels the flesh begin – slowly at first, then faster – to knit together neatly, closing up the wound even better than a needle and thread would have. Xion's breathing suddenly relaxes and then Xigbar notices what Ven was doing when he pulls her out of his arms.

"HEY!" He snarls but Xion's head suddenly snaps back up. Both Ven and Xigbar freeze, startled by the strange look of sheer rage on her face. Her eyes glitter with the force of her emotion, and she holds her hand out to her side. "Shame on you. Picking on a girl." She growls in a low voice, a voice so very different from her normal quiet speaking voice it was like listening to a completely different person. She then falls limp again, clutching at her leg and sobbing quietly in pain.

Ven pushes her behind him protectively and then turns, facing the two Organization members. His hand curls by his side as if he was holding some sort of weapon. Xion whimpers besides him but somehow manages to grab his ankle. "Don't," She hisses quietly, wincing as she looks up at him. Her gaze drops to her fellow Nobodies. "They're going to destroy you. Especially since Xigbar's here." She warns quietly, even as Xigbar laughs.

"I knew you'd remember me right, poppet," He says in a teasing voice, giving her a cocky wink out of his one good eye. Ven growls under his breath and starts to step forward, until Xion's grip around his ankle tightens. Xigbar smirks. "You better do as she says, Venny ol' boy. Xi Xi's got it right. We're not good guys. But we'll treat you nice... if you're a good boy, ya know!" He holds his hands to his sides, his single golden eye gleaming as the two hilts of the Arrow Guns reappear in his hands. The purple metal gleams threateningly but Ven stands his ground and simply looks at him.

"And if I don't _want_ to be a 'good boy?'" He demands. Xigbar blinks at him, looking startled for a moment. Ven uses this time wisely, holding his hand out to his side. Xion cries out in shock as the Keyblade flashes into existence in his hand, the golden handle gripped tightly in the boy's hand as if he had wielded it a thousand times before.

Xion goes numb again, and this time it had nothing to do with the pain. Ven was a Keyblade Master. Just like her. They were the same, they were both Keyblade Masters. … It was... so strange... Before she had been forced to join with Sora, she had thought that Riku and Sora were the only ones. After all, the other two were a Nobody and a Replica. The thought had never crossed her mind that there were others...

Her breathing goes labored and Ven looks at her, smiling sadly. "Yeah. I... I guess you've never seen one of these before. I'll explain it. … I'm not evil," He mutters this last part quietly, as if he had been accused of this before. Either way, he steps in front of Xion with a surprising amount of strength for someone who had been unable to even walk a few minutes ago. "I'm just fighting for my friends." He gives the two Nobodies a disdainful glare before gripping the blade with both hands, obviously ready to do exactly that.

Xigbar chuckles. "'Never seen one before,' huh? Well, lemme tell you somethin', Ven... You should really pay attention." He motions towards the silent girl, making her look away from him. "That little girl... is _our_ Keyblade Master." Ven blinks in surprise, glancing over his shoulder at her. "She's your _**what**_?" He repeats, startled and staring at Xion. Xigbar chuckles, looking over at Xemnas. "That's right! She's the one helping us get to Kingdom Hearts! Just like your ol' master Xehanort!" He laughs.

Xion shrivels in her coat, looking up at Ven. She isn't sure what he meant by 'old master,' but she knows she had to say the truth before they distorted it even further. "They created me to do that," She says honestly, knowing that she couldn't lie to him. "They created me to be their Keyblade Master. … My friend... was the original. And the boy I came from was the one who really wielded the Keyblade." She looks up at the Organization members, suddenly unable to withhold her rage. "And you guys are the ones who made me kill Sora." She snarls, her expression darking with anger.

It couldn't have been more effective than if she had suddenly slapped both of them.

Xigbar jumps, his jaw dropping in shock as he stares at her. "Wh...What? You're kiddin'... right?" He asks, looking both impressed and terrified that Xion had killed her original Somebody.

Xemnas wasn't so subtle. "You destroyed Sora?" He demands softly, looking like he was about to kill the Replica for this admission. Xion nods. "Therefore you have destroyed all of our plans for controlling him." Ven stares at him at that like he wasn't sure he heard Xemnas right. Xion nods. "Yes," She says bluntly. "I have. And Riku wants me dead." Xion knows that now there was no way she was going to be free of either the Organization or of Riku. They would both be gunning for her, either to protect her... or to kill her.

Xemnas's face twitches, a very rare sign of emotion from him. His eyes flicker to Xigbar, who was still staring at the girl. "You are the last of the Keyblade wielders... just like Ven." He says softly, taking a step towards them both. They flinch away in unison, the girl trembling even harder while the boy took a swipe at the air, as if he was warning the man not to step any closer. Xemnas chuckles. "Well... if you will not come willingly... we shall take you by force." He warns, holding his hand out to the side in a gesture identical to Ven's Keyblade summoning one. A jet of red light appears in his hand, and it gleams menacingly in the light.

Xigbar lets out an amused laugh. "Well, you heard the boss man, Xi! You gonna give up and come with us?" He asks as he looks down at the blood on the floor from the injury he had already caused to Xion's leg. At his words, the girl trembles and clutches her thigh. The echo of the femoral break courses through her, a wave of hot bile and hate going through her body. Xion knows her decision.

She would rather die than go back to the Organization.

Ven, since he was in front of her, doesn't catch the grim expression in the girl's face but from the way the two men tense up in front of him he knows what her answer was. He grins, allowing himself a quiet chuckle. "You heard her! She isn't coming with you!" Ven declares with a lot more confidence than he actually feels, since he had been almost crippled a few moments before. In fact... He feels his weakened legs tremble from the effort of forcing the magic from his lifestream, from walking/running to Xion's aid, and from standing up without a support.

He couldn't take much more of this, and neither could she.

Xemnas spins the beam of light known as the Ethereal Blade in his hand, looking for all of the world like a stereotypical villain from a movie or a play. But the cold, calculating way that he looks at the injures of both teenagers is enough to know that this wasn't a game. Not in the least. Ven's legs continue to tremble, until even Xigbar realizes there was something funky going on between the two. Xemnas cocks his head at the children, smiling vaguely. "Are you... the master of this place?" He asks quietly, a very sincere question.

Ven blinks at him. "No," He says honestly enough, shaking his head slowly as he backs away from them towards Xion. He allows the girl to cling to his ankles for a moment before crouching down to prop her up against his back. "I don't know who this castle belongs to. Don't you guys own this castle?" Ven says as he lets Xion lean against him. She pants weakly but smiles at him gratefully for helping her. Ven smiles, nodding to her in a secretive way.

Xemnas scowls. "The owner of this castle... is dead. I believe we know that much," He says in a reluctant voice, as if the identity of the owner was a mystery. He takes a step forward, his Blade hissing as it swings in the air. He cocks his head to the side, eying Ven with a strange sort of desire, as if he wouldn't let the boy leave without him right at his heels. Ven shivers at the stare and brings his Keyblade up to prevent Xemnas from coming closer than the length of the blade. "The owner is dead," The Superior repeats softly. "And the owner... left an heir somewhere. Are you it... or are you simply a _**Replication**_?" He says this last word like a curse, as if just the idea of Ven being a Replica broke his heart, or whatever he had left inside of him.

He didn't sound like Xemnas at all.

Ven just shakes his head and grins. "Nope. I'd like to think I'm one of a kind." He says in an extraordinarily cocky voice before hurtling himself towards a wall. He grabs the scalloped decorations, forcing Xion to grab a hold of him to keep him from collapsing. He trembles in her arms, looking at the Organization members in fear.

For a moment, Ven looks like he's about to run and abandon Xion to whatever fate she was to face at the hand of the Organization members. Then he pulls her behind him once more, stepping away from the wall to protect her. Xigbar grins, very much amused when Ven raises his Keyblade to about eye-level. "You can barely stand! How do you think you can take us on?" He sneers, using the muzzle of his Arrow-Gun to scratch at his temple. Ven still shields her, even though Xion protests.

Xion clings to his shirttail, pulling on it with a weak hand. "I can fight." She whispers, looking at the grinning Xigbar and the solemn Xemnas in fear. She knows that in a fair fight, she would lose. Xigbar was just too crazy and unpredictable unless he felt like playing around. As for Xemnas... She shivers. Xemnas was just an unknown variable. As far Xion knows, no one had ever seen him fight.

Ven looks at her for a moment, pain weakening the inner strength inside of him before he nods in agreement. "Alright... but first chance you get, you run." He says quietly, gripping his Keyblade with two hands now. Xion shakes her head. "You and Roxas... are both seriously sexist." She mutters to herself, summoning her own Kingdom Key in a flash of white light. As the familiar weight settles into her right hand, she feels a bizarre warmth emerge from the metal handle.

The two Organization members stiffen at the sight of their Keyblade Master's weapon but Xigbar just smirks in that annoyingly cocky way. "Well, ain't that pretty. Let's see how fast we can win, Xemnas. Fifty munny on me beating Poppet before you can blink." The Freeshooter laughs confidently, cocking his Arrow-Guns with a flick of his fingers. The safeties of both crossbow-gun hybrids echo menacingly as he takes a step forward towards said Poppet.

The two Wielders just smile at each other and laugh nervously. "We're gonna die." Ven says as he raises a bottle of elixir to his lips, rapidly drinking the sweet potion down as fast as he possibly could. Xion does the same, shaking even as Xigbar takes one more teasing step forward. She knows that he wasn't going to fight them on the ground like Xemnas would. The Freeshooter would be up in the air.

Her dark eyes suddenly fill with light as she thinks of a strategy. "Take Xigbar. I'll get Xemnas." She says quickly, throwing her bottle of elixir down on the ground. It shatters into a thousand tiny pieces even as she charges forward, her blade extended and firmly in her grasp.


	6. Chapter 6: Another's Heart

**Well, it's been a while, folks.**

**Disclaimers: As usual, KH is not mine and the idea is so boo ya.**

**Next chapter we see Ven's fight! Read and review please!**

**One more thing. It is currently, at the time I post this, four AM. Please let me know if you see any mistakes as I am not all the way lucid right now.  
**

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**Chapter Six: Another's Heart**

There is exactly one thing to say about fighting Xemnas.

It was almost the single most idiotic decision ever made by Xion in her short, not even quite a year lifetime.

As she slams the Keyblade into the Ethereal blades, it is only sheer dumb luck that she doesn't just drop the damn thing from how the two weapons resonate from the force of impact. Despite whatever her feelings are towards the Superior, he has a steady arm and the way that he easily intercepted the attack showed her that he is in fact a very serious fighter.

A cold smirk slowly crosses his lips and his grip shifts slightly on the glowing blade of energy. He turns his body so that he is facing his former subordinate completely, looking her right smack in the face. Golden eyes look into the blue, and for a moment, Xion sees a brief flash of an unrecognizable emotion in the very depths of them, like the barest hint that there was anything human left.

She only grits her teeth and forces the weapon down, until both of their blades' tips point toward the floor. It is more of a standoff at this point, a way for her to show Xemnas that she wasn't afraid of him anymore. Xemnas only looks at down at the Keyblade, giving it a small fond smile. It is like it is a dear thing to him, as if he knew it well...

And was barely supporting it being in Xion's hands.

Xion squints slightly as she keeps applying the force to the weapons crossed before them, even though she knows it is only a matter of time before Xemnas started getting serious and started fighting back. For now, he only looks at her in what almost seems like curiosity, as if he was wondering what the heck she was doing defying him. Didn't she know who he was? He was Xemnas, The Superior of Organization XIII, the man who had brought the best of the best together to steal back what they had all lost, the one who would be the ruler of Kingdom Hearts itself.

Blah, blah, blah.

Xion's grip tightens on her Keyblade grip and she grits her teeth in an annoyed grimace. She'd heard it all before... and now... well, now she could finally say what she had always thought. "Your _**hair**_ is the only thing bigger than Kingdom Hearts." She grunts out in a quiet voice and mentally a little voice in the back of the former Organization member's head starts screaming that she was about to die.

Xemnas's gold eyes blink in an approximation of bewilderment and Xion smiles slightly. It seems that the Superior had forgotten one very important fact about the Nobodies of Sora, and it was time for her to show him his mistake. With a deliberate motion to show off, she raises her hand up to Xemnas's face. With a start, he suddenly realizes that both of his Ethereal blades are pinned under the Kingdom Key and that he had to drop them in order to get the heck away from her. Xion smirks with an uncharacteristically grim smile and she says the word in a very quiet voice.

"Fire."

The flames trickle out of her hand, curling around her fingers for a moment like they wanted to suck in that much more heat from her body temperature. With the same force that Ven had used with his wind spell, Xion mentally shoves the ball of flames forward in a straight line. Like all energy, the fire had to go somewhere. As much as it might have wanted to stay with her and the rest of her magic, energy has to dissipate into the air and no more energy can be used than what was already in her body. And so it listens to her orders and shoots out into the air, losing bits of itself along the way as small orange sparks. The fireball, as tiny as it was, slams into Xemnas with the same amount of force that a small caliber bullet might strike an assailant.

After all, Xion's magic is little more than a very basic gun when she shot it out of her.

With a startled cry that Xion isn't sure wasn't genuine, Xemnas tumbles backwards and slams his head onto the tile floor with a sickeningly loud crack. She winces, remembering just how bad that actually hurt if you were the one falling. Gravity was one cruel mistress. However, this is only a temporary distraction. Even now, Xemnas was about to get to his feet and so she had to move quickly.

As if she had practiced all of her life for this, the ex-number XIV flips the two Interdiction blades into her hands and runs right off with them.

They are cold in her fingers, and she knows that she cannot hold them for long before losing herself in them. The blades practically buzz with energy and none of it was positive. Instead, the feeling of being emotionless, of being so cold that she felt nothing, of actually being nothing, fills her body and her heart, emptying her of the emotions she had so recently gained. Her feet plod onto the ground anyway and she feels herself growing colder with each step... and with each step... she remembers.

_She had touched the glass with a cautious hand, not afraid that she would break it but afraid she might awaken the person sleeping inside. The boy slept on anyway, too deeply enchanted to break out of it from a mere tap on his Memory Pod. But Xion had touched it like that anyway though she did not know why._

_The girl standing next to her had also touched the glass though her touch was a little more brusque and much more rude. From beneath the white hood that hid her solemn eyes, a very faint smile was on her lips. She was happy. Happier than she had been for a very long time, and both Xion and Naminé knew it. She mumbles something to the opaque glass in a rather loving sort of whisper, like she was reassuring both herself and the boy in the flower-like Pod._

_As if in answer, Sora had smiled vaguely before his expression turned blank again._

The tears flow down Xion's eyes as she skids across the floor, having suddenly lost her balance. In her hands, the Ethereal blades spark with a new energy, one much more violent than the cold that was robbing her of her senses. They buck viciously in her hands like they had suddenly gained their own life and were trying to get away. Xemnas holds his hand out to the air, curling his fingers into the palm of his hand in a slow, deliberate motion. The Blades struggle harder in Xion's hands, the coldness growing deeper and deeper within her heart.

It feels like she is slowly turning to ice.

_She had looked towards Sora's friend, wondering whether or not she had done the right thing. Even now, the memory witch had been approving of her actions all the way up to when she had defeated Roxas. She remembers that she had clutched her hand into a fist then, marveling at how small that little hand that had killed her friend had felt inside of her leather glove. It had felt sick, disgusting even to know she was still alive._

_Roxas had been the superior fighter. He'd been the warrior, the Organization's golden boy and beloved Keyblade Master. … So why had she won? The thought of it had turned her insides into ice, even though she technically couldn't feel anything without the Heart that was still inside of Sora. She may have won the memories, but she hadn't won anything she couldn't give back. And Roxas had known she would give back everything to the person it belonged to, the person that they had both stolen from in order to survive in the Organization._

_Sora slept on that day, not knowing what would become of him the moment that the glass doors opened to his pod._

Xion screams as the Ethereal blades start cutting into her skin, even though she was wearing gloves. They burn right through them with their icy touch and she screams louder even as she whips them around into a battle stance. Xemnas clutches at his fist and the blades begin to break apart in her hands, each one splitting into thirds even as the former Nobody begins to throw them at Xigbar.

Floating in the middle of the air, too intent on playing with the mouse called Ventus, Xigbar does not notice the blades until they stab themselves right into his arms. The blood trickles down his arms and he comically raises them to his face, his startled expression showing that he was very shocked that he had gotten hurt, who had done this to him, and oh my gosh I'm bleeding all at the same time.

_She had clutched at her arms, looking at Sora as he slowly bled to death on the floor. Something had gone wrong. She had opened the doors, there had been this bright light... she had seen something, someone walking with her to Sora's arms. And then everything went wrong. The boy's eyes had opened and he had looked at her with the same expression she remembered from his memories. The same look that he had given to his friends on the islands he had given to her. He was supposed to have been asleep. _

_But no, the Keyblade Master had been awake and his blue eyes, so close in color to her own, had been beautiful. Like the sky on a summer's day, they had beckoned her to come to him and to give him back what was his. She had placed her hand onto his Heart, had felt it beating between his fingers... and then felt it being ripped out of his chest by something she couldn't see. _

_Xion could feel his Heart beating slowly within her chest and she knows... that she had just killed the one true Keyblade Wielder in all of the worlds._

"_I'm sorry... Sora... I'm sorry..."_

Xion pants loudly as she rushes Xemnas, her Keyblade extended as easily as if it had been born into her hand. She then lets out a wild yell and the broken Ethereal blades fly at her, slamming into her path as if to stop her from reaching their master and intended target. She swats them away like they were nothing but annoying flies and continues to run towards Xemnas. The Superior grits his teeth and the formless Nothingness reshapes in his hands, elongating into spikes of sheer malice.

The Keyblade suddenly glows in her hand, gleaming a very bright shade of silver as it smacks against the first Ethereal blade. But Xion has no time to think about this as the force of her blow resonates throughout her arm, shocking her into almost dropping the stupid weapon. Somehow she manages to hold anyway and she glares at Xemnas with as much malice as she had inside of her little body. Xemnas's lips curl into a sneer and he skids his leg back a little as she steps forward, pushing him towards the wall behind them. She herds him mercilessly, giving the Keyblade all the strength she could afford to give it and somehow it works, seeing as Xemnas kept moving backwards.

And then she sees the look in his eyes.

Xemnas had dropped his gaze not to the girl herself but the weapon she was wielding. There is a curious, but still blank, look on his face as he stares at it and a smile slowly spreads across his lips. Like the man himself, it is not a nice smile but a cold one, dank and creepy with all of the promises that anyone that could own a person's very body and soul could give. The Interdiction splutter with red light, the cold sparks stabbing themselves into Xion's torn gloves. The damn things had ripped holes right through them and now they barely hung onto her hands at all.

But just what was Xemnas looking at? After all, he had seen the Keyblade so many times, so it couldn't be something all that new. She was a bit stronger now because of Sora's vitality, sure, but he isn't looking at her. No, his gaze remains firmly on the blade in her hands and not her.

Xion, out of sheer curiosity, looks down at the Keyblade and flinches in sheer shock. What the?

Somehow... in mid-fight, it had changed on her, turned into a vastly different weapon and somehow... it feels stronger. She clutches at the black and white checkered hilt, completely dumbfounded on how it did that. Something didn't just _**change**_ into another thing for no reason, something must have happened to her Keyblade to make it do that! But what? This new Keyblade is much longer than her original Kingdom Key and much... well, the best way to put it was lethal. Both she and Xemnas stare at the thorn-like spurs at the head of the key, and simultaneously decide that lethal is the best way to describe this thing. It is definitely able to kill someone and the spikes gleam eerily in the light of the Castle, as if eager to do just that.

And yet, Xion can feel something strange inside of it. There is a... an emotion inside of the Keyblade, and she can feel it inside of it. The barbs of the Keyblade are sharp and the whole thing is curved just enough to be like a scimitar in its ability to be waved around in the air like an idiot was holding it but... there is no malice in this Keyblade. Unlike the Interdiction, it feels... noble. Like it was trying to protect Xion, like it had been created just to help her out and to keep her safe.

It is a gentle Keyblade almost.

Xemnas chuckles softly in that eery deep voice of his. "Well. That is new." He says quietly as one of the Ethereal blades vanishes from his grip. His newly freed hand reaches up to touch the Keyblade but something stops him about an inch from its metal.

_**'No. Not yours.'**_

The voice is harsh but still very calm, its low tones echoing within Xion's mind like a familiar lullaby. It is the sweetness of a mother's song to soothe her child, the ferocity of the most ruthless warrior, and the friendly tones of a very old friend that you hadn't seen in a while. It is all of these things and more. Xion recognizes the voice, though she couldn't distinguish which one of them it was.

"_S...Sora...? Or... R... Roxas...?" _

_**'Xion.'**_

She feels her arm being lifted up into the air like someone suddenly wrapped her limbs with strings and was manipulating her like a puppet. Xion has enough time to watch as she swings forward, slamming the Keyblade into Xemnas's throat as hard as her body could possibly manage without actually stabbing him. The Superior turns a bright shade of purple as he struggles against the blade and Xion's body has enough sense to slap the second Interdiction out of his hand.

She had won.


	7. Chapter 7: Battle Wonders

**It's been a while, no?  
**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts and its characters in no way belong to me and any resemblance to real life people or events are purely coincidental. **

**I don't really have an excuse for why this one took so long, other than I have insanely weird writer's block and I finally more or less finished the college process. Whoop, holla atcha girl! **

**Ahem. With that in mind, please know that to make up for it taking so long, this several months piece of writing is fairly lengthy. I hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter Seven: Battle Wonders**

As he raises the Wayward Wind up to protect his face, seeing that the crazy old coot with the gun was about to fire off a couple shots, Ven knows that he has no chance of winning. His entire body is shaking, though if it was from hunger or from sheer exhaustion he didn't know. Even so, his arm moves slowly, painfully slowly as he lifts the weapon to shield himself for the next barrage of arrows that would be coming his way.

Xigbar's lips curl up into a grim sort of smile, though he stills looks pretty damn pleased at seeing Ven. There is a strange familiarity to the guy, as if he had seen Ven before... and Ven knows him from somewhere. But where? The boy grimaces as the man twirls his two purple arrow-Guns in his hands with the same skill of an expert gunslinger and nocks them with his thumbs, getting ready to fire. There is a moment of hesitation in the older man though, as if he was actually thinking over whether or not shooting Ven was a good idea or a bad one. As if he was wondering just what the consequences of harming one of the worlds' remaining Keyblade wielders was, if it was a good idea to harm someone who was already badly injured and exhausted from his long sleep and at the limits of his sapped stamina. Xigbar's eye focuses onto Ven's and he continues to smile at him for a moment.

Then Xigbar just shrugs. Oh well.

Ven's eyes widen in a way that would have been comical if this was any other circumstance and if he hadn't been almost dead from exhaustion. Xigbar raises the Guns and starts firing, vanishing into a little black portal as Ven blocks the first few arrows, sending them back to their owner in a flash of purple light.

"Hey, Ven! Looks like you've gotten a bit rusty since the last time I've seen ya!" Xigbar's voice, coming from somewhere on the ceiling, says in a teasing way, further infuriating the young Keyblade wielder.

The sound of more arrows being nocked in the Guns is the only thing keeping Ven from letting out his own barrage of curse words fly. Instead, Ven just grits his teeth and tightens his grip on the Wayward Wind, clutching it behind his back as he scans the ceiling for his opponent. Even as he does so, Ven can feel his limbs shaking from pain and from his exhaustion, making him want to just collapse and allow the arrows to make him into a makeshift pincushion.

But he has a mission and he needs to protect his friend.

Ven shouts out a spell just as another dozen arrows jet out from one of the corners of the room and, like the one spell he had managed to do before, the wind manages to catch the Gunslinger off guard. Blue tendrils of wind swirl around the boy and make the arrows virtually useless, scattering the shafts of violet light harmlessly at his feet. A low grunt emerges from the ceiling then and Ven crouches, getting ready.

He had one shot.

Ven's eyes narrow as he spots the tiny black dot on the wall and he runs for it, swinging his arm up as he slips through it, bringing down the Keyblade on a startled Xigbar. "The hell-!" Xigbar manages to say before Ven slaps the Blade across his mouth and shuts him up, sending him flying across the small hallway-like room they were in. Feeling his body begin to give up on him, Ven leans on the Wayward Wind for a moment, allowing him a chance to catch his breath before he tried to get out of the corridor.

As Ven rests, the darkness in the room calls to him, mocking him and offering him power that he would otherwise never gain on his own. Its teasing and powerful call is almost irresistible, at least if you were someone other than Ven. As it was, the room makes him remember and he cannot stop the tears from trickling down his pale cheeks.

_Aqua... Terra..._

He remembered running for it, his rage, the _need_ to attack his former Master too strong to allow even Aqua's concern for him stop him. He had had him where he wanted him, at the mercy of his Wayward Wind, about to bring it up and to strike. He had almost rid the world of Master Xehanort, almost rid the world of the monster that ripped his very soul in two, almost rid the word of the person who would have hurt his friends.

But he had failed. Instead of killing Xehanort, he had been captured and encased in ice instead. He doesn't remember much after that, only Aqua holding him and telling him that he would be alright. She had protected him, like she and Terra had always done. And he had dishonored her sacrifice once again.

The boy's world weary eyes close for a moment as he hardens his heart against the Darkness calling for him. The power that it offers him, the very power that had probably given Xigbar and Xemnas their strength, doesn't really mean anything. Not after what he had been through.

He would not be dishonoring his friends again.

He smiles grimly. "Sorry. But I'm not a customer for you." Ventus tells the shadows moving around him, hoisting the Wayward Wind up to his shoulder in order to keep from falling down. He hears a muffled moan behind him and turns, steadying himself against the wall as Xigbar starts to pick himself up. Ven's hand tightens on the hilt of the Keyblade and he begins to ready himself for another attack. Even as he moves back into a fighting position, he feels his knees knock against each other. Another sign of his sheer exhaustion.

He wasn't going to last at this rate.

"Damn!" He hears the scarred Gunslinger shout in grim amusement, the sound of his voice echoing loudly against the glowing walls of Darkness. "You got me! You actually _got_ me!" Xigbar calls out with a laugh, obviously not hurt enough to damage his sense of humor. Ven grimaces. He had just given everything that he had to attack Xigbar, and it made him _laugh_? He definitely is not on his best game today. Ven crouches as he slowly backs away from where the voice was coming from, moving toward the small crack of light at his back in order to jump back into the room where Xion and Xemnas were fighting.

Xion.

Ven grimaces, suddenly remembering the girl he had left behind to fight another one of those weird guys. He doesn't really know what they are but he knows they're most definitely bad news. He tosses the Wayward Wind to his left hand, holding it behind his back in the Reversal Grip that was so unique to his fighting style. He takes another couple steps backwards, watching the Darkness ahead of him suspiciously as his steps begin to grow longer and longer. He is almost to a run but he still watches the darkness, his blue eyes beginning to water.

The pain in his legs is growing worse now, the tear and wear he had inflicted during the battle becoming all too clear. Ven's legs begin to tremble, his knees knocking together as he continues a now very slow path back to the room. What had he done to himself? He had barely even been awake for a few hours and he had charged into a gun fight armed with what was essentially a knife. Xigbar had the advantage, he'd always had the stupid advantage of being able to snipe with his weapon rather than using the running based attacks that Ven was forced to use with a Keyblade. He could almost hear Terra's voice mocking him about how stupid he was being... how he should run. The breath catches in his chest, heaving weakly as he makes it to one more step.

Just one more step to keep him going. He just needed one more step.

Ventus blinks in surprise as the edge of his boot suddenly slants, the heel skidding slightly on the slippery tile floor of the Castle. He had actually made it? He actually did it! A goofy grin immediately crosses his lips, a happy childlike giggle that was completely out of character for him emerging as he finishes that last step and plants his foot firmly on the floor. Behind him, Ven could hear startled yells and muffled grunts of effort as the blades of two different sets of weapons clash against each other. The fight?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. He had to keep going.

Ven grips the wall as he begins to take a step forward, lowering his weapon as he starts making his way out of the Corridor. Ventus freezes as the air around him suddenly turns icy cold, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up at full attention. Behind him!

"Don'tcha be forgettin' me, tiger!" Xigbar jeers as he slams his full body weight into the small of Ven's back, sending the boy sprawling head over heels from the force of his kick. Ven's entire body flips in a one hundred eighty degree angle, his feet briefly leaving the sanctuary of the floor in order to loop around the airspace where his head normally would be. He looks like he was doing a hand stand, albeit without any hands. _Crack!_ Ven's head slams against the floor with a jarring smack that made his entire body shake like he was being electrocuted. A wave of vertigo rushes through him, making the Keyblade wielder close his mouth tightly and try not to throw up.

A thousand thoughts rush through his head, all of them more or less on the same three main ideas.

The battle was going too quickly, Xigbar moved too quickly and Ven could barely even stand. Xigbar peers down at him and smiles, holding up the purple weapon up to Ven's forehead, placing the muzzle right between his eyes. Ven finally understands. He isn't in any shape to fight and he couldn't exactly deny it with him lying on his back and staring up at a guy holding a loaded gun to his face.

He had gotten his butt kicked.

Xigbar cocks the gun again, the click of the of the trigger echoing especially loudly in Ven's ears. The boy struggles to try to get up, to try to get up and away from the crazed gunslinger, but his body refused to cooperate, having done too much already. His entire body just plain _hurt_, his limbs were shaking from all that he'd put them through. He shouldn't have fought. He shouldn't have even tried, he should have left it all to Xion.

For the first time in his dazed state of mind, Ven notices that his opponent was sticking to the ceiling like some sort of demented spider. Ven doesn't bother to process this. He just closes his eyes instead, getting ready to be shot. His body automatically tenses in preparation for the final shot.

But it does not come.

Instead he hears a loud shriek come from Xigbar's mouth, the sound of a man who had just gotten very badly hurt. Ven's eyes fly open to see the blood trickling down the injured Gunslinger's arms and sharp shards of something bright red sticking out of them. The fragments were shards of something strange, it looked like... Xigbar screams again, staring in shocked horror at the blades of light embedded in his arms. They buzz with a fierce intensity, making the Nobody's entire body shake violently and bleed that much more. Ven's eyes immediately go to the small figure that had thrown the blades.

The thrower doesn't bother glancing back at her handiwork, instead simply turning around and readying her Keyblade one more time. Xion doesn't even bother to look over her shoulder to check on Ven, instead just charging forward at the one she had called Xemnas before. Ven lets out a sharp gasp as her form suddenly flickers, changing slightly. He blinks, sure that he was hallucinating from sheer exhaustion. But he sees it again.

As Xion's Keyblade connects with the red saber-like blades of light in Xemnas's hands, there is a bright spark of silver light from the weapon. It elongates in her hands, shifting rapidly as she fights with it, seemingly without her control. For a brief moment, Ven sees someone else in Xion's place, someone else aiding the fight against the Superior. Her speed increases immensely, making her fight in a slightly different style than the one she had been battling in. It wasn't her fighting style, but it was close enough that Ven knew that the boy in her place was to blame.

The boy in red was familiar, so frighteningly familiar...

And then the fight was over. Xion now had the gasping Xemnas pinned to the wall by the throat, and she is almost completely unharmed. Her gasping breaths are loud enough to be heard over the screaming Xigbar and Ven can't help but let out a very inappropriate laugh out of the sheer shock of being alive and not impaled on the wall by purple spikes. His friend looks over her shoulder, giving him a big smile with the same sort of relief.

They had made it. They weren't dead.

* * *

Xemnas wriggles violently beneath her Keyblade, attempting to escape as long as he still had some breath left in his body. But Xion only has to press slightly harder with the weapon to keep him pinned and to make him stop moving, probably out of the fear that she would kill him. At least, that's what Xion thought he would be doing if he was someone normal. She feels her hand tighten around the Keyblade's hilt, the knowledge that she could kill him making her shiver with an intense hatred.

He had ordered her creation, this was the man who ended up destroying entire worlds as a Heartless, he was the one who forced her into wielding a Keyblade solely to hurt Sora, and Xemnas was the one who had threatened her so many times with becoming a Dusk. She presses that much harder on his throat, feeling the soft tissues press in with the force. It would be easy. It would be so very easy to kill him. He had made her life a living hell just to have one more pawn on his chessboard.

A furious snarl emerges from her lips as she remembers the treatment she had endured at Saïx's hands because of Xemnas, the way that the older Nobody had treated her like garbage just because she wasn't a real creature. Her hand shakes with the need to destroy this monster before he dared try to hurt her again or attempted to scar Ven the same way that he had had her scarred. It would be easy. So very easy. Hate and rage surge up in her stolen heart, making her shiver with their intensity.

The hot and bitter emotions rise up on her tongue, burning her lips with the acidic taste of her own fear and greedy revenge. She closes her eyes for a moment before placing her hand onto the man's forehead. Xemnas flinches away from her touch but Xion only has one word to say to her former Superior.

"Sleep."

The instant that the spell leaves her lips, the Nobody ruler slumps over on the wall, his golden eyes shutting with their invoked unconsciousness. The girl turned human looks over her shoulder and simply flashes a weary smile to Ventus, giving him a thumbs up as she removes the Keyblade from Xemnas's throat. Ven lets out an equally as exhausted whoop and waves from Xigbar's still writhing body. Her time of indecision had only taken a few seconds.

As she walks towards the exhausted Keyblade wielder, Xion feels something strange emanating from the silver Keyblade in her hand. She glances at it for a moment and it flashes one more time, giving her a message that she couldn't quite read. But she has no time to worry about it now. As Xion turns her gaze back onto Ven, she is just in time to see him smack Xigbar hard in the head.

"That's what you get for... messing... with me. And... for... Aqua..." He tells the now unconscious Freeshooter weakly, collapsing back onto his knees in exhaustion. He breathes heavily, like he had just run a marathon through a lake of sand. Of course he was tired, he had just woken up a few hours ago. Xion almost wanted to slap herself across the face. He had had no right fighting!

Ven slaps his Keyblade weakly on the floor, mumbling to himself. "That one's for Terra..." Xion hears him mutter as she reaches him and slips her hands underneath his arms, lifting him back to his feet. Terra... and Aqua... For a moment, the former Nobody wonders who they were and why he had said their names with such pain in his voice. But the moment passes and she automatically turns her mind back to first aid. Ven lets out a shallow breath, looking up at her as she pulls his head into her lap. "Did... we... win?" He asks her in a quiet voice, his eyes not quite focusing on anything at this point. She touches his forehead, checks for a fever, and nods.

"Yeah, we won." Xion informs him with a smile, laughing when Ven grins and cheers again, albeit much more quietly.

"Just making sure, Xion!" Ven says in an amused voice before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, immediately making him pass out in her arms. Xion stares at him for a moment, startled by how easily he had been able to sleep. A wave of exhaustion then flows through her, the adrenaline from fighting her longtime foe and boss cutting off in an instant. She collapses, drifting back into the unconsciousness that had taken her when she first arrived.

Its contents now safely asleep, the room begins to shift slowly around the pair of Keyblade Masters, each white color brick painstakingly plopping into place around them as the tile floor they lay on began to sink into the ground.

The Castle had a job to do.


	8. Chapter 8: A Flurry of Flames

**Hello people of the internet!**

**Oh sweet mother, we're only on chapter 8! Well, that means that the first arc is almost done! I'm about half way there! For those wondering, there are twenty six arcs (with varying total chapter numbers in each one) and about twenty three worlds that we're going to go through in this story. Holy mother, this is gonna be a long one. We're easily going over the hundred chapter mark; if this is not your idea of a good fanfiction, please leave now. It's going to be long and lots of fun stuff will happen. If you like one shots, I have a one shot collection.**

**I'm also trying my very best to make the chapters nice and long (but not too long!) so that you lovely reviewers/readers don't storm my castle (er... email) and demand more rapid updates. Without further comments from me, please enjoy chapter eight. **

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Chapter Eight: A Flurry of Flames

_She fell down, down, down into the Darkness..._

_Blurs of memories – memories that weren't hers – pass along the corners of her eyes as she fell deeper and deeper into the Darkness. The same boy keeps appearing alongside these visions, a taunting reminder of just who they belonged to. _

_**S...o...r...a...**_

_The girl tumbles headfirst into the darkness, deeper into the memories that weren't hers. So many people rushed against her, a thousand memories of worlds she had once visited – or maybe she had never seen...? – but had long forgotten. _

_Aladdin, Alice, Ansem, Beast, Jiminy Cricket, Donald Duck, Snow White, Riku, Kairi... the names don't mean anything to her... but they mean something to the boy. They were friends... allies... and his enemies. _

_'Who are you...?'_

_The wind picks up, driving her further and further down inside of the boy's memories, past the ones she truly wanted to see. She is forgetting them all... forgetting completely what it meant to be him._

"Xion?"

The voice comes from just above her, right by her ear. The girl winces at the sound, feeling the whisper thunder in her head like a gong, ringing and ringing and ringing inside her skull and causing that much more of a headache.

What was going on? Where was she?

"Xion?" The voice insists as she feels a hand on her shoulder begin to shake her forcibly, trying to make her to wake up. "Xion, are you awake?"

She knows that voice. Xion opens her eyes weakly, blinking hard against the bright light of the room. Slowly, images come into being and focus. Ven stares at her, still clutching at her shoulder and shaking her in order to wake her up that much faster.

"I'm 'ight..." Xion slurs before touching her mouth, feeling a trickle of blood dripping down between her lips. She stares at the drops of red on her fingers for a moment before allowing Ven to drag her into a sitting position. The boy carefully maneuvers her into leaning against him, putting her head into the crook of his arm even as she winces and clutching at her now aching ribs.

"You sure don't _look_ alright," Ven scolds her as he presses his hand onto her forehead, probably checking for a fever. She just closes her eyes against the pressure, moaning softly as he runs his hands up to her ribs. A jolt of white hot pain flashes across where he put his hand and she screams out loud, stopping only when Ven lets go of her ribs and slaps his hand onto her mouth.

Tears trickle down her cheeks as she howls in agony, muffled by her friend's palms.

"Xion... I think... one of your ribs is broken. … Or maybe it's a lot of them." Ven tells her weakly as he keeps her gagged. The girl shivers violently in his arms, making his own body ache in sympathy. A vague look of amusement appears in her eyes as she reaches up and wraps her hand in his, pulling it away from her mouth. "Hey... I thought... _you_..." She pants weakly, chuckling softly even as she winces hard against the pain the movement caused. "... Were... the one... batted around... like a ball..."

Ven scowls at the gallows humor, smacking the little girl lightly between the eyes before gently putting her down on the floor. She moans again and starts to stir, getting ready to get up on her own and probably cause a lot of damage to herself just moving.

The resulting glare is exactly enough for the ex-Nobody to shut up and lie on the floor motionlessly. Ven resists the urge to smirk and crow to Terra that at least _someone_ listened to him, even though Terra was nowhere near him. Instead, he removes his jacket and wads it up into a makeshift pillow. Xion smiles slightly as he lifts her head and stuffs it under her, even reaching up and patting his hand with one torn gloved hand.

"So... what now?" They ask in unison, startling each other before snorting in laughter. Ven waves his hand and starts to shrug before stopping, a surprised expression appearing on his face. He runs his hands onto his shoulders, rubbing the sore but not aching muscles in confusion. He had been, as Xion put it, 'batted around like a ball' by that freaky gun guy, but he wasn't _feeling_ like he had been.

In fact, he feels great. Even better than he had been when he had been woken up by Xion.

Why wasn't he in pain? He had barely been able to walk when he last woke up, but after a few hours sleep – had it been only a few hours? – he was suddenly fine? It didn't make sense. It didn't make any sense at all. Even if they had been asleep for the same amount of time, Xion is still horribly injured from her fight from Xemnas. His wounds had been just as bad, if not worse because of how poorly he was able to fight.

Why was Xion still injured and why wasn't he in the same condition?

Xion opened an eye and sighed softly. "You know," The girl told him in a solemn voice. "If you keep making those faces, it's gonna get stuck that way." Ven stared at her for a moment before slapping his hand onto his face, groaning loudly. Xion chuckles. "That's what Axel said anyway." She admits, adjusting her head on Ven's jacket.

A low curse erupts from her mouth as another stab of pain flashes across her ribs, making her eyes water from how badly she wanted to scream.

They glance at each other when the episode of pain was over, knowing that neither of them had enough magic stored up to heal all of Xion's injuries, if any of them.

At her concerned face, Ven puts his hand on her least injured shoulder and pats it gently. "Don't worry, it'll be okay," He says automatically, even though he was pretty scared himself. Xion nods once, though not without considerable effort.

They stay silent, each one contemplating their limited options.

Ven could run off to go find help, whether in the form of another person or a machine that dispensed potions and ethers. But if he did, he would leave Xion behind in an extremely vulnerable state. They had only just managed to defeat the Organization members that had attacked them; if they got into another fight, she wouldn't be walking out of the arena at all. On the other hand, if they waited for their magic levels to go back up, Xion would be spending days in horrible pain and would have to remain completely still for all of the time. There would be no point in saving up magic if she just ended up puncturing a lung with a broken rib by moving.

And there was the matter of Ven's unwieldy magic... would it even be able to heal someone, or would it simply sputter out like his wind spells did during his battle with Xigbar?

After a few moments, Ven just lies back down with Xion and they stare up at the ceiling together. Her labored breathing is the only thing that they can hear, like they were the only ones in this wing of the strange Castle. For some reason, they would have been content to lie there forever and forget about the entire world, perhaps a strange effect of the memory altering Castle.

But Xion eventually spoke.

"...V...en?" She says softly, making the older boy turn to her in surprise. He hadn't expected her to try to speak again so soon. Xion smiles a little. "Who... were... the people whose names you called out?" She asks a little timidly, realizing that the topic would most likely make Ven react badly, maybe even angrily. "You... mentioned them before..."

Ven closes his eyes, a clear sign that he didn't know what to say about his mysterious friends. He sits up and rubs hard at his blond hair, spiking it up that much more messily. "They're..." He begins in an unsure voice, continuing to rub at his hair in deep thought. "... Well... they're Keyblade Wielders like I am. … We had the same teacher."

His voice, Xion notices, is growing sadder with each bit of information he was giving up.

"Our teacher... was struck down by... my best friend," Ven says in a hesitate voice, putting his hand on his own shoulder. He clutches at the piece of armor on it tightly, like it would bring back his teacher. The pain is very obvious in his eyes and she knows that he was reliving the moment in his head. How many times had he relived it, how many times he had been filled with guilt over the loss of his master?

"You weren't angry when he did?" Xion asks next, surprised at how calmly he was able to say it. Ven just shakes his head no. "... Soon after that... I lost the rest of them. Both of my friends. I never saw either of them again after that last meeting. I don't have anyone now... except for you, Xion." He directs a smile in her direction but his expression remains far away and sad, obviously on the friends he had once had.

After a moment of silence, he seems to snap back to reality because Ven turns back to her. "Do you have someone like that? A best friend?" He asks curiously, his voice soft and a little lower than usual. He sounded close to tears.

Xion nods once before answering. Her smile was a little sad too, as if she hadn't seen her friend in a very long time. "His name's..."

* * *

"Axel."

The eighth member of the Organization looks up as Saïx drops down from above, apparently having broken through a floor to get to him again. "Geez, don't we need this place for uh... mind wiping or somethin'?" Axel asks in an amused voice as his partner brushes the plaster off of his black coat.

If he could feel amusement, this would be the point where he would be laughing.

Saïx gives him a disapproving look before shaking his head. "That would not work without Naminé," The Nobody scolds him. "As she is the only one with the ability to 'wipe' memories among us all. The only power that Castle Oblivion has on its own is-"

"Getting us completely lost, I know." Axel interrupts on purpose, grinning when Number VII gave him the same angry look that he would have given him if they had had Hearts. Some things never changed, and apparently Isa's annoyance at him is one of them. "So if we're going to get really lost, how come the Keyblade Master knew where to go?" He asks next.

Saïx shook his head again. "He didn't. He was guided by the others, especially the _memory witch_." The way that the Luna Diviner said the fifteenth Nobody's name was almost angry, as if the girl had done something besides run away. Even though she was never part of the Organization, the seventh member seems to be taking her disappearance personally.

Axel rubs at his mane of flaming red hair. It didn't make sense. Why would Saïx take it so personally? "Hey... she's a Nobody like us, right?" He asks curiously. His companion gives him a curt nod, a barely distinguishable look of curiosity appearing in his golden eyes. Axel snaps his fingers dramatically. "Then why isn't she one of the Organization?" He demands with a shrug, like he wasn't very interested in the answer.

"Because she is not suited for combat," Saïx retorts immediately in a particularly snooty voice, as if his own abilities raised him above the normal Nobodies that each of them were able to command. "And the witch is far too loyal to the Keyblade Master to be of any use."

Axel pauses, a sudden thought hitting him. "... Loyal to the Keyblade Master..." He mutters out loud and rubs his head hard, thinking about it. Just who was the Keyblade Master? He couldn't even remember the name of the kid, let alone his face. He knows that he had fought against the kid, beaten him up and gotten pounded by him a couple times. He should have known that face... Axel shakes his head. The only other Keyblade Master he knows is Xion, and they were still looking for her. So why couldn't he remember this other kid? "Xion... Just where are you?" Axel says to himself before feeling something tug hard on his sleeve.

He froze before looking down, fully expecting to see some sort of Heartless about to try to claw his face off. But there was nothing, not even a Shadow. Instead he feels himself being pulled forward, toward one of the doors that Saïx had already searched before him.

Of course, this _is_ Castle Oblivion.

Axel glances over his shoulder at his partner but walks forward anyway, knowing that the Castle might have changed in the few minutes that VII had been wandering around on the floor above. But Saïx hadn't noticed his walking away; Axel shrugs. It was just as well.

He didn't want his two friends to try to rip each other apart the moment he found her.

_'A...x...e...l...'_

Just how long would it be until he found Xion?

* * *

_Hun... gr...y... _

_So hungry..._

_Burn, pain, so much light...! _

The creature bares his fangs against the light, shielding his eyes from the pain. It was so bright here, it was so bright in this white colored room. He huddles against the corner of the room, doing everything in his power to physically remove himself from the light. He couldn't remember how he had come to this room.

_Where...? Where... am... I...?_

_Light... so much... light... _

The boy buries his face into his hands, shielding his golden eyes from the pain.

_I... remember... who... that girl..._

_The girl who had taken everything away... _

A vision of a small girl, the girl who had ripped out something precious from inside of him begins to grow clearer and clearer, until it was almost like she was standing right next to him. He knows that girl. The boy begins to laugh, his voice growing higher and higher in his hysterics. The shadows around him begin to shift and contort with his laughter.

_I remember... that girl... took my... _heart_... away...!_

He could remember her so clearly now.

A hand drops onto his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. The man in black stares at him for a moment before dropping down to his knees in front of him. "Are you okay?" The man asks him quietly, as if afraid that talking too loudly would send the boy running.

The boy grimaces once before shaking his head slowly and covering his eyes again.

"Okay..." The man says before pulling the black cloak off of his body and pulling it around the boy. Before the boy could react or try to pull away, the man had already pulled the deep hood over his head and his eyes. The relief was almost immediate; now he could look up at the man and not scream from the light. "Where's Xion?" The man asks next as he finished adjusting the cloak.

The boy blinks a few times as he processes the man's appearance. He has bright red hair, something that made him want to recoil for some reason. The man's dark green eyes are better, but still too full... still too full of the light that made him want to claw his eyes out.

"Where's Xion?" The man repeats and he shakes the boy's shoulder, obviously trying to get his attention. The boy blinks hard and shakes his head.

"Not here..." He whispers, unable to speak any louder. "She's not here..." Xion... the name... sounded... should he have known that name...? The man sighs and shakes his head. "Shoulda known it wouldn't be that easy to find her... She's missing." He clarifies for him.

The boy frowns. Missing? He was missing, too. He didn't know where he was. "... Help... find her?" He offers weakly, though he wasn't sure why. The man laughs and shakes his head. The boy frowns; it sounded fake. "Nah, it's alright. You look like you wouldn't be able to get up anyway. And we'll find her in the end... but why are _you_ here? Where'd you come from?" The man says curiously.

From the sound of his voice, it sounded like he shouldn't be here at all.

The boy shrugs. He didn't know.

The red haired man holds out his hand and gently clasps the boy's gloved palm. The kid blinks and tries to pull away at first but then relaxes. His hand is warm, like he had just held it to a candle or a campfire. It's soothing. Slowly, he wraps his fingers around that hand. The man smiles at him, obviously trying to reassure the boy for some reason.

Maybe there was something in his appearance that made the man want to help him.

"My name's Axel. Why don't you come with me?" Axel asks. In response, the boy reaches forward and wraps his arm around Axel's shoulder. The man hoists him up, ignoring the boy's grunt of pain and his own efforts.

The boy smiles. "I'll get that memorized."


End file.
